The Acadiana Advocate 06-04-2026

Business backlash halts

Bertrand overlay district

City rethinks strict design rules

BY STEPHEN MARCANTEL Staff writer

Mayor-President Monique Boulet

has tabled an overlay district that would have set strict design standards along a half-mile stretch of Bertrand Drive after business owners voiced concerns.

The half-mile of roadway is part of a revitalization project that aims to be a

snapshot of Boulet’s marquee plan for Johnston Street. But business owners say they were never told about proposed building design requirements that could impact property values and hinder renovations.

Boulet said the administration intended to pursue restrictions on land uses and signage, but the project also automatically triggered the city’s broader Type A development stan-

dards under the Lafayette Development Code, which include building design and site requirements. She said the administration plans to revisit those standards and how they apply to revitalization projects and existing commercial corridors. A Lafayette Consolidated Government spokesperson confirmed Tuesday that plans for the overlay district were paused. A briefing on the district was scheduled at the city’s Zoning Commission on June 15 but has since

ä See BERTRAND, page 4A

La. mostly ends inspection stickers

N.O., BR areas retain rules for safety checks

BY ALYSE PFEIL

Drivers across most of Louisiana will no longer need a vehicle inspection sticker though many in the Baton Rouge and New Orleans areas will still have to comply with other inspection rules in those places.

“The inspection sticker is now EXPIRED in Louisiana!” Gov Jeff Landry wrote in a social media

post after a Tuesday bill-signing ceremony, calling it “costly and burdensome.”

Most drivers will no longer need to get a basic safety check every year or two. Instead, they’ll have to get a new Louisiana Vehicle Identification Program sticker, which will have a QR code that lists the vehicle identification number when scanned. Drivers will get the new QR code sticker when registering a vehicle.

It will have an annual cost of $6 that will be collected by the Office of Motor Vehicles at the time of registration and again every time

the registration is renewed, which could be at one-, two- or four-year intervals. For example, someone who renews a registration every two years will pay $12.

The state’s new QR code sticker listing the VIN will be rolled out beginning Jan. 1. Before that date, drivers do not need to visit the OMV to get the QR code sticker Instead, they will simply get the new sticker when their registration is up for renewal in the coming months or years.

Drivers in some major metro ar-

ä See STICKERS, page 4A

House votes to stop war with Iran

Approval of resolution a rebuke of Trump

BY LISA MASCARO AP congressional correspondent

WASHINGTON The House for the first time

Wednesday approved a war powers resolution that would halt the U.S military action against Iran, defying President Donald Trump as a handful of Republicans joined with Democrats to end the threemonth-long conflict that has reordered politics at home and abroad.

“It is time for the president to do the right thing. The people are tired of suffering because of his war of choice — suffering at the gas pump, suffering at the supermarkets.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson had tried to prevent an outcome that would show the mounting opposition to the war abruptly shutting down floor action two weeks ago when the resolution was on the verge of approval. But displeasure has only grown as the conflict drags on and as Trump struggles to negotiate a plan for peace.

“Enough is enough,” said Rep Gregory Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who led the effort. “It is time for the president to do the right thing,” he said. “The people are tired of suffering because of his war of choice — suffering at the gas pump, suffering at the super-

ä See HOUSE, page 4A

STAFF FILE PHOTO By BRETT DUKE

Vehicle inspection stickers will no longer be required for many vehicles in Louisiana.

STAFF PHOTO By LESLIE WESTBROOK

An overlay district for a stretch of Bertrand Drive is on hold after business owners voiced concerns.

Ford issues recalls for several models

Ford is recalling almost 420,000 vehicles because of a seat belt issue that may result in an injury if a crash occurs.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a report Tuesday that the recall includes certain Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator vehicles with model years 2018 through 2022.

The issue involves seat belts that may lock inadvertently, not allowing them to retract or extend Vehicle owners will receive a notification in the mail about the recall. They can take their vehicle to a Ford or Lincoln dealer to have both front seat belt retractors inspected and to replace retractors involved in the recall for free.

Ford also issued a do-notdrive warning for thousands of Bronco Sport and Maverick due to problems with the vehicles’ suspension systems.

The NHTSA said that the front lower control arm ball joints may have been incorrectly installed or incorrectly repaired at an assembly plant, and the control arm could disconnect from the front wheel knuckle.

Dealers will inspect and repair the front lower control arm ball joints as necessary, for free.

Owners may contact Ford customer service at (866) 4367332 or the NHTSA at (888) 327-4236 for more information about the recalls

Child dies after inflatable castle tossed into air

MONTREAL A 3-year-old girl died from injuries she sustained when strong winds tossed an inflatable castle into the air during a party at a Montreal park last weekend.

Eleven people were injured with six of them sent to hospital when a bouncy castle and a tent were tossed by high winds on May 31 at Parc Ouellet in LaSalle, a borough in southwest Montreal, emergency medical services said

The government agency Environment Canada said wind speeds were up to 31 miles per hour on Sunday afternoon during a party held by a church.

Coroner Martine Lachance has been assigned to investigate the causes and circumstances surrounding the death.

Cathy Denis, owner of an inflatable-structure rental company in Quebec, said she doesn’t install or operate bouncy castles or similar inflatables when forecasts call for wind speeds exceeding 24 miles per hour

She said that limit is important because inflatables present a large surface area and sudden gusts can move the structures, even when they are properly installed.

Germany seizes tons of cocaine, arrests suspects

BERLIN German authorities said Wednesday they have seized more than 8 metric tons of cocaine from a container that was supposed to be carrying cacao beans, and two suspects were later arrested in Spain. German customs investigators put the street value of the cocaine seized in the North Sea port of Wilhelmshaven at about $582 million.

The drugs were seized on Feb. 9. The arrests were made in El Ejido, in the Spanish province of Almería, on May 14.

The container had arrived from West Africa and was destined for Spain, investigators said in a statement Instead of cacao beans, officials found more than 400 packets wrapped in black foil, each containing about 20 blocks of compressed cocaine

The shipment was destroyed in Germany before the container was sent on its way to Barcelona. Investigators identified two suspected organizers of the shipment and arrested them during a handover of the container

One of them, the manager of an import company, has been linked to a previous cocaine shipment by Spanish customs, the statement said. The pair could face prison sentences in Spain if tried and convicted

Trump admits calling Israeli PM ‘crazy’

BY KAREEM CHEHAYEB, MATTHEW LEE, JOSH BOAK and SARAH EL DEEB Associated Press

BEIRUT President Donald Trump acknowledged criticizing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as “crazy” in a phone call that involved expletives, saying he was “a little bit perturbed” that Israel’s fighting with Hezbollah militants in Lebanon was holding back peace talks with Iran.

But even as the U.S. president conceded the tensions in an interview released Wednesday he insisted that his relationship with Netanyahu was solid and that they connected, in part, because they are both “wartime” leaders.

“We’ve worked very well together I like Bibi a lot. And I work very well with him,” Trump told The New York Post’s “Pod Force One.”

In an interview on the American business-news channel CNBC, Netanyahu responded that he and Trump sometimes have “tactical disagreements” but have “common goals” and “agree on the main things.”

“He respects me. I respect him We always find a way to work out our differences,” the prime minister said.

The president’s comments about the Monday call offered a sign of the growing pressure he faces to resolve the Iran war as higher energy prices and economic uncertainty threaten Republican prospects in the midterm elections and hamper global commerce.

Talks have dragged on for weeks and have been strained by Israel’s broadening war with the Iranian-backed militia group in Lebanon The conflicts have become increasingly intertwined as Iran insists that any potential truce in the war there must also quell the fighting in Lebanon.

Israel, Lebanon renew ceasefire

Israel and Lebanon agreed Wednesday to renew their fragile ceasefire and create a number of “pilot” security zones inside Lebanon from which Hezbollah militants would be banned.

In a joint statement released after a fourth round of U.S.-mediated talks at the State Department, the two sides said

the ceasefire “is contingent on a complete cessation of Hezbollah fire and the evacuation of all Hezbollah operatives” from areas south of the Litani River It was not immediately clear how the security zones would be established but the agreement calls for the Lebanese army to take full control of those areas.

“These steps will enable progress towards a comprehensive peace and security agreement,” the statement said.

“All countries reaffirmed that the future of the relationship between Israel and Lebanon must be decided by the two sovereign governments They rejected any attempt, by any state or non-state actor, to hold Lebanon’s future hostage.”

The latter is a reference to Iran, which supports Hezbollah and has insisted that Israeli attacks on Lebanon be halted as part of a tentative agreement with the U.S. to end the conflict with Iran.

Hezbollah is not part of the Israel-Lebanon talks, which have been held at the ambassadorial level in Washington since the beginning of last month.

“All parties condemned Iran’s attacks on countries in the region and ongoing activities that undermine stability throughout the Middle East, whether through support for proxies and all other acts of aggression,” the statement said.

A new round of discussions will be held during the week of June 22 with an eye toward “reaching a comprehensive agreement.”

Military warning rattles coastal city

Israeli strikes over southern Lebanon continued, especially in and around the battered cities of Tyre and Nabatiyeh. Two overnight strikes near Tyre, a coastal city, killed four Syrians and two Palestinians.

Israel warned the Christian neighborhoods in Tyre that Hezbollah members were among them Many Lebanese Shiite Muslims fled to those areas in recent days because they were spared from the aerial bombardment along the Mediterranean coast.

After the warning, the Lebanese army deployed to the Christian district of Tyre in an effort to prevent Israeli attacks there and to show that Hezbollah has no armed presence in the area.

600 firefighters battle fire at the U.S.-Mexico border

KAREN KUCHER

The San Diego Union-Tribune (TNS)

SAN DIEGO Six hundred firefighters, aided by helicopters and air tankers, were battling a stubborn brush fire along the U.S.-Mexico border Wednesday that so far has charred more than 2,600 acres of vegetation on both sides of the border

The blaze, which sparked Monday afternoon in Mexico before crossing into the U.S., south of Dulzura, was reported to be 5% contained as of Wednesday morning, according to Cal Fire officials.

Aerial mapping of the burn area estimated total acreage at 2,617 acres early Wednesday Officials said 1,625 acres were in the U.S. and 992 acres were in Mexico.

One night-flying helicopter worked up until midnight making water drops on the fire, and officials ordered two air tankers and four helicopters to make water and fire retardant drops Wednesday, said Cal Fire Capt. Oscar Sotelo. He said the fire was burning east and was expected to grow after the marine layer burned off.

“The fire did go down in intensity and they are expecting the intensity to pick

up during the day,” Sotelo said.

Although no structures were immediately threatened, the fire is about a mile from Tecate Peak, where radio communications equipment is housed, and a mile from a high-voltage power line that feeds San Diego. Sotelo described the area as being “a pretty rural, inaccessible area.”

Evacuation warnings were issued around 5 p.m Tuesday for businesses and homes north of Conchera via Road at Cochera via Drive, south of state Route 94, east of Little Tecate Road at SR-94 and west of U.S. Border Patrol Road at SR-94. The Red Cross opened an overnight shelter at the Spring Valley Community Center where residents and their pets were welcomed.

According to Baja California Civil Protection officials, the fire began shortly after 2:15 p.m. Monday near Rancho Las Uvas and the border fence, between Tijuana and Tecate.

Mexican officials on Tuesday had said the fire charred more than 520 acres south of the border and reported it mostly under control there. Sotelo said Cal Fire was told Mexican officials are moving their resources to fight the fire on the east side.

Pentagon hires convicted rioter to military post

Man was freshman at Citadel when he joined attack

BY KONSTANTIN TOROPIN Associated Press

WASHINGTON The Trump administration has given a man convicted in the Jan 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol a job in the Pentagon’s policy office, according to officials and internal records.

“Mr Elias Irizarry is a qualified, patriotic young professional, and we are proud to have him as a political appointee,” acting Pentagon press secretary Joel Valdez said in a social media post this week.

Irizarry, whose appointment was first reported by The Washington Post, was convicted in 2023 of a misdemeanor trespassing charge after a mob of President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol. He showed contrition when he was sentenced to two weeks behind bars in 2023, court documents show Internal Pentagon records described to The Associated Press show that Irizarry has been assigned to the office of the undersecretary of defense for policy, which is tasked with providing national security advice and support on military strategy and planning to the defense secretary It was not clear from Valdez’s statement how long Irizarry had been in the post, and the Pentagon declined to provide more information.

Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said on social media: “This administration thinks a convicted Jan. 6 rioter should be doing that kind of work?????”

Irizarry was a 19-yearold freshman at the Citadel military college in South Carolina and a Civilian Air Patrol cadet when he joined the attack on the Capitol, court documents show He climbed through a broken window, entered a confer-

ence room, carried a metal pole through the Capitol and took photos before leaving the building, the records say

“Because of his training, Irizarry was undoubtedly aware of the safety threat posed by a mass of angry rioters to the Congressional members and staff inside the building,” prosecutors said in a court filing. Irizarry pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor trespassing charge in October 2022. In March 2023, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan sentenced Irizarry to 14 days behind bars.

Before learning his sentence, Irizarry told the judge that he brought “great shame upon myself, my family and even my country,” according to a transcript.

“The idea of Americans being willing to fight other Americans and tear down the very institutions that millions of other Americans sacrificed and built and protect is horrible. It is something I have to live with being a part of,” he said.

Irizarry is not the only convicted participant of the Jan. 6 riot to find a job within the Trump administration.

Jared Wise, a former FBI agent charged with joining the crowd, was hired at the Justice Department last year to serve as an adviser to the department’s pardon attorney Wise was on trial in Washington when Trump returned to the White House in January and immediately pardoned, commuted prison sentences or ordered the dismissal of cases for all of the nearly 1,600 people charged in the attack. The case against Wise was dismissed before the jury reached a verdict. He announced on social media in April that he had resigned from the department, saying: “I returned to Washington to fully expose the abuses by the FBI and DOJ against J6 defendants, but it became clear that this will only happen from outside of government. So I left and will do so.”

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ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MOHAMMED ZAATARI

Rescue workers use an excavator on Tuesday as they search for victims under the rubble of a building that was hit Monday in an Israeli airstrike in Tyre, Lebanon.

DOE backing away from addressing civil rights

Efforts to address inequities are cast as discriminatory

BY ANNIE MA AP education writer

WASHINGTON For generations, the federal government enforced civil rights laws with an eye toward remedying historic, systemic discrimination against Black people and other people of color The Department of Justice pressed schools to desegregate. The Department of Education worked to promote equal opportunity and held schools accountable for racial bias.

But under the Trump administration, efforts to address deeprooted inequities for students of color are being cast as discriminatory against White students Programs that have long withstood legal scrutiny are now quick to be deemed “illegal DEI” diversity, equity and inclusion — by the White House. Schools that do not comply have faced threats to their funding, and in some cases, lost federal grants.

Civil rights lawyers describe the Republican administration’s actions as a complete inversion of legal history

“It’s literally flipping the purpose of civil rights law on its head, not just harming Black students and students of color, but entire school communities,” said Michael Pillera, director of the Educational Opportunities Project at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law “It’s unmoored from the actual history of our country and untethered to the reality of life in this country.”

The administration has opened investigations or joined litigation over a wide range of efforts to address racial inequality. President Donald Trump’s Justice Department is investigating programs to increase the number of teachers of color in Rhode Island and Iowa. Grants to districts to train teachers or recruit school mental health workers have been discontinued for mentions of diversity in recruitment

In a statement, the Education Department said programs receiving federal money must follow the law, which prohibits discrimina-

tion based on race.

“Serving student needs and following the law are not irreconcilable mandates. Advocates and educators have no reason to stress if they abide by the law,” said Amelia Joy, a department spokesperson.

The administration investigated Chicago Public Schools and withheld more than $20 million when the district refused to end its Black Student Success Program, which aims to increase access to advanced coursework for Black students and reduce overly harsh discipline.

Complaints find new traction

A similar effort to close racial achievement gaps in Los Angeles is under the same pressure.

The Los Angeles Unified School District created the Black Student Achievement Plan after an outpouring of student activism following the 2020 murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis It supports schools with extra teachers, counselors and curriculum in Black history

Initially, the district chose schools partially based on the number of Black students enrolled. In 2023, Defending Education, a Virginia-based conservative group, filed a complaint to the Education Department, alleging discrimination against non-Black students

The district said it would no longer consider Black enrollment and instead focus solely on metrics such as high absenteeism and low test scores, emphasizing that all students could take part.

After the changes, the Education Department in 2024 said it saw no evidence of a violation. But when Defending Education filed its complaint again this year, the department’s Office for Civil Rights opened an investigation.

Sarah Parshall Perry, senior legal fellow at Defending Education, said it refiled the complaint after district leaders were recorded saying the program had not materially changed, despite the new criteria.

“Our goal is not to make L.A Unified a target, but rather to make sure that when people say that they are eliminating racially discriminatory aspects of programs,

that they’re actually making good on their word,” Perry said.

In a written statement, the school district said its programs are aligned with state and federal laws and are open to all students.

Makeda Walker-Deen, a junior at Dorsey High School in Los Angeles, said the program has supported her in several ways through high school.

A program counselor directed her toward college preparation programs, which made it possible for her to visit the University of California-Berkeley, and Stanford, colleges where she is thinking of applying. Psychologists and social workers she connected with have helped her navigate pressure and anxiety

“I think that the things a lot of critics are saying are so unreasonable,” she said. “They’re saying that a program that’s meant to help Black students, other students of color, is discriminatory. We’ve been discriminated against in school systems basically our entire lives.”

The district has seen signs of impact. In recent state testing, Black students in the district outperformed the average Black student in California.

“When you provide teachers and school personnel with knowledge and skills to help your lowest performing students, everyone wins,” said Tyrone Howard, an education professor at UCLA who consulted on the initiative.

Organizers worry pressures on the program will slow efforts to address inequities for Black students.

“Where is the uproar about the failings of the public education system for Black children?” said Christian Flagg, director of youth organizing at Community Coalition, which lobbied for the creation of the achievement plan. “We have had this student group at the bottom for so long, these massive gaps for so long. But when we do something to try to address it, there’s a problem.”

Targeting separate L.A program

The pivot in the federal govern-

Bessent refuses to say if Trump is exempt from audits

Treasury secretary won’t clarify president’s IRS immunity

BY FATIMA HUSSEIN Associated Press

WASHINGTON Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent refused to say Wednesday whether President Donald Trump and his family would still get immunity from IRS audits after the administration abandoned plans for a $1.776 billion compensation fund that would have benefited the president’s allies.

“There’s continuing litigation, and I’m unable to comment on ongoing litigation,” Bessent told lawmakers at the Senate Finance Committee hearing.

It was a frustrating answer for Democratic lawmakers looking to get answers from Bessent at a hearing ostensibly focused on the Treasury Department’s budget and came a day after acting Attorney General Todd Blanche seemed to indicate that the portion of the settlement dealing with the IRS audit immunity would still be in effect for the Republican president.

After several failed attempts to get Bessent to answer, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., said, “It’s been very clear you’re dodging this and you’re trying to use it as an excuse. It’s just outrageous on behalf of the American republic.”

A White House representative did not respond to an Associated Press inquiry about the status of the settlement. In the Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump did not confirm whether the compensation fund had been scrapped or was simply on hold. “I’d have to ask the lawyers, I don’t know,” he

told reporters. “As far as I’m concerned, it was a beautiful thing,” he said The administration decided to scrap plans for the compensation fund, which could have included payouts to participants in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S Capitol, after bipartisan outrage and a fierce political backlash that threatened to stall key elements of the White House agenda. Still, the status of the IRS immunity deal as part of the controversial settlement crafted to resolve Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS remained unclear, though Blanche said Tuesday that “nothing has changed” in that regard.

Last week, a federal judge in Florida overseeing Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS, who had initially dismissed the case, reopened the case and ordered the president’s attorneys to respond to allegations that Trump abandoned his claims to avoid the court’s scrutiny of the deal.

When she initially dismissed the case, Kathleen Williams, the judge handling the lawsuit, admonished the Justice Department for a lack of transparency and said no agency “submitted any settlement documents nor filed any documents ensuring that the settlement was appropriate where there was an outstanding question as to whether an actual case or controversy existed.”

Matt Platkin, a former New Jersey attorney general now at the law firm Platkin LLP, which is representing lawmakers and judges challenging the settlement agreement, called it “one of the greatest scams in American history.”

He told The Associated Press that Blanche’s testimony on Tuesday over plans to scrap the weaponization fund and grant Trump audit

immunity “underscores the need for the court to continue its inquiry in Florida.”

Lawmakers on Wednesday tried to grill Bessent on the agreement without success “Secretary Bessent owes the committee an explanation of what the Treasury knows about the dirty settlement. That’s because his department was involved from beginning to end,” said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.

Wyden asked Bessent: “Does the IRS audit immunity given to Trump, his family, and his businesses still stand?”

Bessent declined to answer, citing the unresolved legal dispute.

If audits and examinations into the president’s taxes were thrown out under the settlement, an untold figure could be wiped from his bill to the federal tax collector

Previous reporting from the New York Times and ProPublica shows that a long-standing audit of a technique Trump reportedly used to avoid paying taxes years ago could have resulted in an estimated $100 million bill if the IRS had found wrongdoing. Even some Republicans expressed concern on Wednesday over the plan to shield Trump from the IRS. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, speaking to reporters outside the chambers, said, “I don’t think any American should have a deal like that.”

Nina Olson, founder of the Center for Taxpayer Rights, which has sued the Trump administration over IRS disclosures to immigration enforcement, called the settlement “the lowest point for the IRS since the 1970s and President Nixon’s efforts to help his friends by trying to stop IRS audits of them and hurting his enemies by urging IRS audits on them.”

ment’s approach to civil rights in schools has taken several forms under Trump.

The Justice Department has released school districts from courtordered desegregation plans dating to the Civil Rights Movement, describing them as outdated and burdensome. The Education Department has stripped funding from some districts that used it to create magnet schools intended to be more diverse.

In correspondence discouraging districts’ diversity programs, the administration has repeatedly cited a broad interpretation of the Supreme Court’s ruling on affirmative action, which prevented colleges and universities from directly considering race in admissions. While that ruling pertained only to admissions, the administration last winter notified schools that any differential treatment based on race was unconstitutional. A federal court struck down that guidance last year, but advocates say schools may still preemptively end equity programs to avoid drawing federal scrutiny

In Los Angeles, the Justice Department has tried to end another racial equity effort.

In the 1970s, courts ordered the district to address the harms of its segregated schools. The case led to a short-lived period where Black

students and White students were bused to different schools. The more lasting programs included the district’s magnet schools, and a special designation for “Predominantly Hispanic, Black, Asian or Other Non-Anglo” schools. That program offers smaller class sizes and additional parentteacher conferences when 70% of the students zoned for that school are students of color The vast majority of district schools qualify

In January, the conservative 1776 Project Foundation filed a lawsuit challenging the designation, describing it as “a program of overt discrimination against a new minority: White students.”

The next month, the Justice Department filed its own complaint and asked to join the lawsuit.

The district’s “desegregation program has outlived its usefulness to the point of being unconstitutional,” a federal prosecutor said in a news release.

Decades of inequity show that is not true, said lawyer Mark Rosenbaum, who years ago represented students of color in L.A.’s desegregation case.

“The opponents of desegregation always said, ‘Drop desegregation, and we will put resources into these schools,’” Rosenbaum said. “You know, we are still waiting for that to happen.”

Georgia district attorney challenges state law that removes party labels

BY KATE BRUMBACK Associated Press

ATLANTA A Georgia district attorney said she is challenging the constitutionality of a law that requires nonpartisan elections for most local officials in the five most populous counties in the Atlanta area but not in the rest of the state.

DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston flanked by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, Clayton County District Attorney Tasha Mosley and Cobb County District Attorney Sonya Allen announced Wednesday at a park across the street from the state Capitol that she was filing a lawsuit challenging the law Boston, the lone plaintiff in the lawsuit, asserted that the measure violates the state and federal constitutions and targets Democratic strongholds under the guise of taking politics out of those elections.

“Republicans here at the state Capitol want to make it harder for voters in our counties to choose the people who best represent us and our values,” Boston said.

“But today we are here at the state Capitol to tell those lawmakers that we will not shy away from speaking up for the people of Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Gwinnett and Fulton counties.”

She dismissed the idea that the law is meant to improve public safety or remove politics from the equation.

“I think the intent of the law when you look at who they’ve targeted is very clear,” Boston said. “They have chosen to go after Democratic strongholds where Democratic DAs and Democratic officials have been successful in these races.” The lawsuit was filed against the state of Georgia. In an emailed statement, Kara Murray, a spokesperson for state Attorney General Chris Carr, said, “We will defend the law as enacted and signed by the Governor.” Willis and Boston had previously threatened to sue over the law when Republican Georgia Gov Brian Kemp signed it last month. They suggested that one reason Republicans were targeting those five counties was because they all have Black women as their elected district attorneys.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By JAE C. HONG

Makeda Walker-Deen, a junior at Susan Miller Dorsey Senior High School in Los Angeles, says the Black Student Achievement Plan created by the Los Angeles Unified School District helped her visit colleges and navigate pressure and anxiety

been deferred. If the overlay district proceeded, it would need City Council approval Boulet said in a statement that LCG would reexamine the Lafayette Development Code as it applies to revitalization projects in the city She said she is working with business owners to create an appropriate one.

“After several conversations with council members, I can say we are all interested in a code that works with our businesses, not against them. We will be formulating the appropriate changes to the code for public input prior to implementation,” Boulet wrote.

Deano’s Pizza owner Tim Metcalf, once a proponent of the Bertrand Drive project, said he believes business owners were misled and has since pulled his support.

“We were sold a bait-andswitch,” Metcalf, who hosted several concerned business owners at his restaurant Monday afternoon, said.

When the project was first proposed, changes to the roadway were minimal, and the project was supposed to last a year, he said. Now, he said that the project has ballooned into something he never expected.

One sentiment that was consistent among business owners was the lament over the elimination of a dedicated turning lane and an overlay district that was never communicated to them when the Boulet administration sold them on the idea.

Regarding the turning lane, Boulet argued that many of the project’s elements would not work while maintaining it.

Metcalf, along with several other business owners, first learned about the overlay district at a meeting with Boulet and LCG engineers and planners about two weeks ago, he said.

“Then the city ran away real fast,” Metcalf said. “The more we read it, the worse it got. They would not give (the document) to us before the meeting.”

What’s in the overlay district?

The goal of the overlay district is to provide a cohesive design across buildings along the roadway and to prohibit certain types

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markets.”

The roll call Wednesday was 215208, but next steps are uncertain. Trump would likely reject any measure from Congress to limit his commander-in-chief authority Still, the tally, with four Republicans joining Democrats, was a rebuke of the president’s war strategy, and cheers erupted in the House chamber. Opposition to war grows

It’s the fourth time the House has tried to curb the U.S. war against Iran. The Senate advanced its own war powers resolution last month when a handful of GOP senators broke ranks with the Republican president in a rare show of political pushback from his party. Each time Democrats have pushed forward the war powers resolution, the vote tallies have inched higher as political unease with the U.S. war swells. Trump had campaigned for the White House on a promise to end U.S. entanglements abroad and focus more on domestic issues, but the war has shifted attention back to the Middle East.

Johnson insisted Trump is “laser focused” on the domestic front, particularly ahead of the midterm elections that will determine control of Congress.

The speaker said he spent three hours at the White House with the president this week and Trump is calling on allies to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resume the flow of commerce.

of businesses, according to a Lafayette Consolidated Government draft document.

The Bertrand Drive district would have adhered to Type A development standards, which aimed to reinforce a more urban, walkable and pedestrian-oriented environment prioritizing building placement near streets, pedestrian access, and eliminating or minimizing prominent parking lots.

The Type A requirements were triggered automatically when the project met certain criteria, Boulet said, including on-street parking, speed limits under 35 mph, street classification, a mix of uses and a higher-density area.

The Bertrand Drive corridor would have been the first area in Lafayette subject to the city’s Type A development standards.

As far as building design philosophy goes, several rules would have limited which materials could be used, and set requirements for the

front-facing appearance of businesses.

Metal buildings, or buildings with exposed metal walls, would be prohibited, as would dark-tinted windows. Setbacks would max out at 10 feet, and all utilities would have to be placed underground. The standard would also set certain signage requirements.

Metcalf said all three of his businesses on Bertrand would be considered noncompliant. As it stands, likely no business along Bertrand would currently comply with the standards.

Terry Delhomme, co-owner of Armstrong and McCall, a beauty supply store on Bertrand Drive, said he fears future owners or businesses undergoing major renovations could be required to comply with the standards.

“If you change that zoning, it’s totally going to cause us to lose money down the road,” Delhomme said. “Now we’re not interested in seeing the project go forward. If

they want to work with us and be reasonable and not take too much and do too much, we’re all for it.“

Additionally, several types of future businesses would be prohibited from operating in the district, including:

n Convenience stores with fuel sales

n Car washes

n Pawnshops

n Bail bond services

n Auto and truck repair

n Manufactured home dealers

n Cemeteries

n Adult businesses

n Self-storage facilities

n Building material sales and services

Prohibited uses and sign regulations were the only requirements that Boulet sought in the overlay district, she said.

The city first unveiled Bertrand Drive’s redesign back in April. The goal is to provide pedestrian and cycling infrastructure and connect the University of Louisiana at Lafay-

ette’s Cajun Field to

The design emphasizes foot traffic and slower driving speeds, and a major redesign of the Johnston Street and South College intersections.

From what was unveiled, the road’s center turning lane would be removed to make way for a 12-foot walking path on one side of the street and 6-foot sidewalk on the other The roadway would feature several raised pedestrian crossings fixed with lighting.

Roadwork is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2027 and end in 2028. The project is anticipated to cost between $11 million and $13 million.

“Let me be clear We can revitalize older parts of town, build safe pedestrian and bicycle facilities, and build roadways that accommodate vehicles. In addition, we can do it without an unreasonable burden on our businesses. It is our responsibility to find that balance,” Boulet wrote.

against Iran. The Senate has yet to take a final vote to approve or reject its own war powers resolution.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Wednesday at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing that the Iranians would think that the administration’s “hands are going to be tied” if Congress approved a war powers resolution. He said they would think “we won’t be able to do anything to them, so why make a deal?”

It’s not the only action Congress is taking in the national security arena as Democrats, in the minority, work to peel off Republican support for measures beyond the war against Iran.

The House also voted Wednesday on another Democratic-led effort, a procedural step toward a measure that would authorize U.S. support for Ukraine’s military operations as it battles Russia and would help reconstruct the wartorn country That vote is expected later this week. The House also expected to consider a war powers resolution to block U.S. action in Lebanon.

Iran has been able to interrupt shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital channel for a large segment of the world’s oil, natural gas and related products such as fertilizer

“We’re working on that final piece,” said Johnson, R-Benton

Since the U.S. joined Israel in launching the Feb. 28 strikes on Iran, Americans have seen gas prices spike at the pumps, adding to inflationary pressure on consumer spending.

STICKERS

Continued from page 1A

eas, however, will still have to periodically trek to inspection facilities to comply with requirements there.

The cities of New Orleans, Kenner and Westwego run their own local vehicle inspection programs. The new state law does not im-

“The entire world has an interest in the Strait of Hormuz being reopened for commerce. That’s what he’s working on.”

Congress exerts its authority

While a ceasefire in the conflict was declared in April, it remains uneasy and uncertain Talks for a more durable end to the fighting have dragged, increasingly complicated by Israel’s broadening war with Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. Meanwhile, military strikes between the U.S. and Iran continue to flare.

pact those local programs. “The city is currently reviewing the legislation that removes the requirement for brake tags and vehicle inspection stickers,” said Jonah Gilmore, spokesperson for New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno. “We are evaluating the law and its potential impact on operations within Orleans Parish to determine how the city will proceed.” And the capital region — the parishes of Ascension, Iberville, Livingston, East Baton Rouge and West Baton Rouge — are still subject to federal Clean Air Act emissions testing requirements. “In these parishes, vehicles will continue to obtain emissions control stickers and pay the associated $8 fee,” according to a fiscal analysis of the legislation. About 314,000 emissions control stickers are sold annually the analysis says.

The war powers resolution from the House would not immediately stop the war but it would provide a symbolic — if not legal — step against further military action.

The resolution next goes to the Senate, where four Republican senators last month joined Democrats in advancing a similar measure to curtail the U.S. campaign

While Congress has the authority under the Constitution to declare war, the president also has power as the commander in chief to engage in military action, creating a legal dispute over which branch of government has ultimate say in matters of war and peace. If the Senate joins the House to approve the resolution, it could set the stage for a fresh legal test of war powers. Under the war powers act, the White House has a 60-day window to seek approval from Congress for military action. The administration, however, has indicated that because a ceasefire has been declared in the current conflict in Iran, the hostilities have ceased.

Moncus Park.

STAFF PHOTO By LESLIE WESTBROOK

Deano’s Pizza owner Tim Metcalf says he believes business owners on Bertrand Drive were misled about plans for the project.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By J SCOTT APPLEWHITE

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-Benton, prepares to talk to reporters at the Capitol on Wednesday.

Rain and storms are in the forecastagain today. In fact, the chance of rain is actuallyhigherthan it was yesterday. So,expect apartly cloudy, warm and breezy daywith scattered showers and storms Windstodaywill be out of the eastat10-15 mph with gusts as high as 25 mph.Windstomorrowwillbesignificantly breezy as well. There is achance thatwecould seesomeminor flooding today, and there is amarginal risk of excessive rainfall that couldlead to some measure of flash floodingtomorrow.

Poland,Lithuania confirm exploringnuclear deterrence

Countriesare considering larger role in NATO’s efforts

BY CLAUDIA CIOBANU,SAM

MCNEIL andKONSTANTIN TOROPIN Associated Press

WARSAW,Poland Poland and Lithuania confirm they are participating in discussions about theirpotential role in NATO’snuclear deterrence efforts, which are built around U.S. nuclear weapons in Europe. While talks are in early stages, expanding U.S. nuclear deterrence in Europe could reassure continental allies of continued U.S.military support at atime when President Donald Trump has led an effort to reduce his country’sconventional defenseinvolvement in Europe.

“Weare talking, in order to create better conditionsfor nuclear deterrence and for Poland to play an important role in that,” Polish Deputy Defense Minister Paweł Zalewski told Polish Radio on Wednesday Poland, however, has denied any plans to host nuclear weapons. That would be “an extremely serious matter,which is serious in terms of political consequences,” he said.

“Discussions are indeed taking place. Idonot want to go into details at this point as they are classified,but discussionsare ongoing, and Lithuaniaiscertainly not standing on the sidelines,”Lithuanian Defense Minister Robertas Kaunas said Tuesday,accordingto press agencyBNS.

Both ministers were replying after anonymous sources cited Tuesday by the FinancialTimes said the United States had signaled openness to deploying elements of its nuclear arsenal in new European countries, in addition to the six currently thought to host nuclear weapons.

The FT reported that Poland and the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, the NATO members located closesttoUkraine, were

interested in potentiallyhosting bases for U.S. dual-capable aircraft, which can carry either conventional or nuclear warheads.

The Pentagondeclined to comment,but aDefense Department official said theU.S. and NATO “continuously assess the security environment”and worktokeep effectivedeterrents. The official wasnot authorized to comment publicly andspokeoncondition of anonymity Nuclearweapons in Europe

The UnitedStates has stationed nuclear weaponsinseveral Europeancountriesfor decades as part of itssecurity guarantees to NATO allies.

In recent years, Russia’swar against Ukraineand the broader threat Moscow poses to NATO have prompted discussions about the possibility of expandingthe U.S. nuclearcooperationwithEurope.

“Worktoassessand potentially adapt NATO’snuclear deterrence posturehas been ongoing for several years and is not linked to any decision taken by the U.S.to adjust its conventional posture in Europe,” an officialtasked with communicating for NATO but not authorized to be publicly named told theAP.

TheNATOnuclear sharing program includesU.S.nuclear weapons deployed in Belgium, Germany,Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey and Britain,aswellasdualcapable aircraft owned by both the U.S. and its allies. TheU.S. maintainsfull controlover the nuclear weapons.

Poland has expressed its willingness to participate in the U.S. nuclear deterrence program since the start of Russia’s full-scaleinvasion of Ukrainein2022, with formerpresidentAndrzej Duda even welcomingthe hosting of nuclear weapons. The current government led by Donald Tusk has been more cautious, speaking only abouta bigger role in nuclear deterrence.

The U.S., however,has repeatedly indicated thatplacing nuclear weaponsineastern countries of

NATO would be too provocative for Russia,Artur Kacprzyk, anuclear deterrence analystwith the PolishInstituteofInternational AffairsinWarsaw,told theAP.

“Theremight be amiddle ground there,which could be called ‘nuclear sharing light’. Youwould have,for example, Polishplanes certified for carrying U.S. nuclear weapons, but the weaponswon’t be deployed in Poland. This aircraft from the east could be asort of backup if,let’s say, German or Dutch aircraft are destroyedbefore they can use thosenuclear weapons.”

Effortsare complementary

Earlierthis year,Polandsaidit would be one of several European countriestojoinFrance’sinitiative of coordinatingits nuclear deterrence efforts with European allies France has been theonly nuclear powerinthe European Unionsince Britain’sexit from the bloc in 2020.

TheFrench-initiated cooperation is “complementary” to the U.S.deterrence, Kacprzyk said, but it has adifferent nature.

Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, Sweden, Denmark and Norway also have said they wereinterested in the French initiative, which allows for the temporary deployment of France’s nuclear-armedaircraft to allied countries. It also allows partners to participate in France’s deterrence exercises andallows allies’ non-nuclear forces to participate in France’snuclear activities.

Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz told Polish broadcaster TVP on Tuesday that nucleardeterrence would be discussed during aNATOmeeting in Brussels on June 18. He said both the French initiative and the U.S. program are part of those efforts

Increasing nuclear cooperation in Europe might help theU.S.offsetconventional reductionsbut it cannot fully substitute theforward presence of conventional troops, especially in countries bordering Russia, Kacprzyk said.

Latest Mangione hearing shrouded in secrecy

Judgeshuts out pressand public

BY MICHAEL R. SISAK Associated Press

NEW YORK Ahearing in Luigi Mangione ’s state murder case in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson washeld in secret Wednesday after the judge shut out the press and public without explanation.

New York Judge Gregory Carro saidhesealed the virtual proceeding at the request of the defensebut provided no other details, raising questions about transparency in the closely watched case.

Court hearings in the U.S. are presumptively open to the public, but judges are permitted to close them in certain circumstances, such as to protect sensitive or confidential information.

Carro held the hearing in his chambersatthe Manhattan courthouse where Mangione is set to go to trialonSept. 8. Mangione, his lawyers andprosecutors all appeared via video conference.

Alawyer representing newsorganizations sent aletter to Carro asking his reasons for sealing the hearingbut wasignored by the judge and rebuffed by his staff.

Whenthe lawyer,Jeremy Chase, called Carro’schambers Wednesday morning, he said the judge’s clerk told him:“We don’t read emails or letters at night. We go home.” Shethenhungupon him,hesaid in an email to news organizations obtained by The Associated Press.

AfterWednesday’shearing, Carro returned to the courtroom and announced it’s “sealed at the moment.” He scheduled an in-personhearing forJune 16. That one, he said, will be open to the public.

Spokespeople for Mangione’s defense team and for the Manhattan district attorney’soffice, which is prosecuting the case, declined to comment. Amessage seeking comment was left fora spokesperson for New York’s

state court system

Laura Italiano,aveteran New York Citycourts reporter whowas in Carro’scourtroom on Wednesday, said this is thethird time in six months that the judge and court staffhavesilenced or ignoredjournalists seeking access to evidence or proceedings in Mangione’s case. At apretrial hearing in December, courtofficers ejecteda reporter from thecourtroomafter she tried objecting to Carro’sdecision to seal certain evidence. In February,Carro held a27-minute, off-the-record bench conference during an otherwise public hearing. Reporters emailed the judge to no avail and asked acourt officer to relay anote to him,but the officer refused.

“We’reseeing serious transparency problems and the trial hasn’teven begun,” Italiano said. “There’shuge public interest in this caseand thejudge is carrying on as if that were not the case.”

Carro scheduled Wednesday’s hearing at the end of Mangione’s last court appearance on May 18. After meeting brieflywith prosecutors and Mangione’s lawyers at the bench at that prior proceeding, Carro said he’d hold avirtual hearing to discuss scheduling and jury selection issues. He gave no indication that it would be sealed, nor has anyone said how,why or when Mangione’slawyers asked forittobe. Typically whenvirtual hearings arescheduled in New York courts, thepress andpublic are able to followalong by watching on TV monitorsinthe judge’s courtroom. When aparty requests that aproceedingbe sealed, ajudge will often solicit input from theothersideand allowthird parties, suchasthe public and news media, to also provide input.

An AP reporter emailed Carro directly on Tuesday, asking him to share, even broadly, hisreasoning forsealing Wednesday’s hearing, and whether atranscript or recording would be provided. The judge didn’trespond and, instead, forwarded the email to the court’spress office.

Retail center mayget additional tax

Moneywould fund infrastructure improvements forsite

BY JOEL THOMPSON Staff writer

The city of NewIberia will hold apublic meeting June 16 to discuss the creation of anew Economic Development Districttobe located at the Lagniappe Villageshop-

ping center at 1102 Admiral Doyle Drive.

Theshoppingcenter,ownedby RockStep Capital, houses national chains such as TJ Maxx, Aldi and Petsmart,among others. AccordingtoNew IberiaMayor Freddie Decourt, the developer reached

out to request the district in order to help cover infrastructureimprovementsfor theparking lot. The ordinance thatcreates the district would alsoimplement a1-cent sales tax on all purchasesinthe district. DeCourtsays the purpose of the tax will betorefund the developer for an initial investment into improvements forthe facility’sinfrastructure. “The city keepsnoneofthis money.This goes to paythe developer back fortheir investment,” DeCourt said. “Much like the other developments andinvestments the city hasbeenattracting, it comes withsomeincentives. Our median income is lower than some surrounding communities, so without these incentives businesses don’t come.”

The1-centsales taxwillbeapplied only to sales within the shopping center itself,not citywide, a fact that city officials argue is important forconsumers concerned about additional costs.

BRICK BY BRICK

TOP: Workers with Menard Masonry install bricks on thefront of aVermilion Street building in downtown Lafayette on May 28. Once completed, thespacewill be leased by the Downtown Development Authority LEFT: Jake Menard catches apair of bricks tossed up to him as he andworkers installbricks on thefront thebuilding.

ABOVERIGHT: Evril Menard places the final brick in thewallonMay 28. STAFF PHOTOSByBRADBOWIE

Former guardaccused in teen sexcase

detainee intohaving sex with her and using disciplinary“writeups”tokeep him from being released.

The LouisianaStatePolice Bureau of Investigations said in a news release that aEunice police officer shot one person during a Wednesday morning incident that ended in Crowley The Eunice Police Department, just before 9a.m., asked State Police to investigate the officer-involved shooting near the intersection of La.13and Oddfellows Road in Crowley Onepersonwho wasshotwas transported to ahospital for treatment. No officers wereinjured According to police, theincident began in Eunice, where the suspect

BY QUINN COFFMAN Staff writer

Aformer employeeofthe Of-

fice of Juvenile Justice has been accused of coercing ateenage

KeyanaNash,who worked as ajuvenile justicespecialist at theAcadiana Center for Youthin Bunkie,has been sued alongside theOffice of Juvenile Justice and thestate of Louisiana by theteenager she allegedly assaulted.

Thelawsuit, filedMay 27, paints

Nash as abusive and accused her of using physical beatings, mace, disciplinary write-ups and intimidation to compel an 18-year-old detainee to engage in sex acts with her multiple times over a period of months.

Nash “took asexualinterest” around February 2025, the suit says, withthe allegedabuse continuingthrough May2025. The victim, who turned18priorto

Nash’sadvances, was coerced into havingsex with herfive times during that period.

The detainee said the rapestook place in an area inside the Center forYouth known as “the cut,” whichwas located in the “bulldog” dorm of the building.

The victim claims to have been madetosit next to Nash, to grope

Afternationwidesearch, LSUnames newleader

Messina to be provost,senior

vice chancellor

BYELLYN COUVILLION Staff writer

After anationwide search,LSU hasnamed JosephMessina,currently adean at theUniversity of Alabama, asits next senior vice chancellor and provost In hisnew role at LSU, which

begins on Aug. 3, Messina will serve as chief academic officer,responsible for academic affairs, faculty development,student achievement,research partnerships andstrategic initiatives,LSU saidina news release Wednesday “LSUisone of the country’sgreat flagshipinstitutions, and the opportunities ahead are extraordinary,” Messina said in the statement. “I am honored to join the LSUcommunity,aswe

Messina

continue building upon that momentum.” Messina has served since2019 as dean of the J. Frank Barefield College of Arts and Sciences at Alabama. Before joining Alabama, Messina spent nearly 20 years at Michigan State University in various leadership roles. Messina is the second of two recent LSU hiresfrom the University of Alabama, the firstbeing Jim Dalton, whowas named LSU’snew

chancellor in November Messina earned adoctorate in geography from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a master’singeographic and cartographic sciences and abachelor’s in biology,both from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. Troy Blanchard, who servedas interim senior vice chancellor and provost, will be returning to his role as the dean of humanities and social sciences, an LSU spokesman said.

Editor’snote:This editorial, slightlyrevised, is published annuallyasatributetoD-Day

Whenthe United Statesput itsyoung men ashoreonD-Day 82 years agoSaturday, they were not alone

Although Americans remember Omaha Beach, where our troops saw some of the bloodiest fighting and suffered manycasualties, young men from at least adozen other countries fought and died on other beaches —all in the common cause of freedom.

By late spring 1944, after years of combat and human sacrifice, the tide hadbegun to turn against Adolf Hitler’sGermany.Evenasthe risks of the D-Day invasion weighedheavily on Gen. Dwight Eisenhower,who drafted —just in case —a statement of responsibility forfailure, victory in Europe was finally in sight. Yet, many more died before it finally came.

The hammer blows landed against theReich on D-Day made up history’slargest amphibious operation. The United States, Great Britain and Canada provided most of the troops,but they were joined by forces from every Alliednation that had suffered during thewar: Australia, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, France, Greece, the Netherlands,New Zealand, Norway andPoland.

Theirheroiccampaign is memorializedatthe National WWII Museum in New Orleans. Now asprawling campus that has welcomedmore than 10 million visitors since it openedin2000, it began life as the National D-Day Museum, dedicated to telling the stories of those whoanswered history’scall thatstormyJune morning so far fromhome.

Louisiana is honored to host those whopass through its doors, especially themembersof our country’sGreatest Generation who served. Today,asalways, agratefulnation honors their struggles and sacrifices.

We also remember the dramatic innovations that sprang from America’sarsenals of democracy, particularly Louisiana’sshallow-draft Higgins boats, which madepossiblethe D-Day landings and those in the Pacific. Perhaps the most enduringoutcomeofWorld WarII, one embodied in theplanning andexecution of D-Day,isAmerica’srole as aworld leader.The late University of New Orleanshistorian Stephen Ambrose, who conceived the World WarIIMuseum, said that thedefining quality of Americans is our sense of optimism.It’swhat enables us to lead with hope,strength and adetermination to meet any challenge.

Those qualities may seem sadlylackingtoday.But by commemoratingsacrifice made by thousands of young men whopiled outofboats and onto beaches in service of agreater cause we honor their heroism andremind ourselves of the courage that freedom demands. Now, just like then, we must not forget that challenges far from our borders can have profound effects here at home. As it did on D-Day,meeting thosechallenges will require the best from allofus.

LETTERSTOTHE EDITOR ARE WELCOME. HERE AREOUR

GUIDELINES: Letters are published identifying name, occupation and/or title and the writer’scity of residence

If you grew up when Idid, you probably had to hold thelight.Ilearned so much from my daddy by holding the light.“Daddy,can Ihelp? Can Ihold the light?Please Daddy,let me hold the light.” Iwould plead with big brown eyes.“Ok, go getthe light.” Ilearned the power of persuasion. He would get the light and the tools In my eyes, there was nothing thatman couldn’t fix. We had socket wrenches, crescent wrenches,needle nosepliers—you name it.“Daddy,doweneed this?” “No, put that back.” “Daddy,do we need this?” “No, put that back.” I learned to use theright tools. About half asecond into holding the light, Iwas done. “OnmyGod, why did Iever want tohold thelight?Why? This is so boring. Are we done yet?”The thing about holding thelight is, once you’re holding it, there is no going back,

and the jobwill lastforever.Ilearned commitment, endurance and patience. When you hold the light, it was to be in an exact spot. “A little higher up. A little to the left,hold still.” Ilearned to hold my position.

“Get your head out of the way.”When you hold thelight,you want to see what is going on. What’s he doing? Is it goingtowork? Let me getalittle closer “Move your head.” The one holding the light is not theone who gets to see. I learned Icould not always be in charge and to trust the process even if Icould not see it.

As Igot older,Irealizedthat he didn’t need me to hold thelight, he just wanted to spend time with me.The lessons wereabonus.Ilove you, Daddy,and thanks for letting me hold the light.

TRACIEELSWORTH Denham Springs

My electricbill keeps climbing, and no onecan clearlyexplainwhy Each monthI open my utilitystatement expecting stability, but instead I see another increase that strains my householdbudget. What’smost frustrating is thefeeling that everyday familieslike mine have littlesay in the decisionsdriving these costs. Recentutilityproposalsand largescaleenergyprojects raise serious questionsabout who is ultimatelypaying forinfrastructure upgrades. When massive newdevelopmentsare added to thegrid, thecost should notautomatically fall on ordinary customers who are already struggling withhigh bills andunreliableservice.

Iamcalling forstrongerprotections forratepayers before anymajor utilityexpansion or fast-tracked approval is granted.Regulators should require full transparency aboutcost distribution andensurethatlargecommercial energyusers paytheir fair share, rather than shifting expenses onto residentialcustomers.

Accesstoaffordable electricity and gasisbecoming one of the biggest concerns for many households today Families areworking hard, budgeting carefully and still finding it difficult to keep up with rising energycosts. Energy is notsomething people can simply live without. Families rely on electricityfor lighting, cooking, preserving food, medical equipment, internet access and staying safe during severe weather conditions.When bills become too expensive,the emotional and financial stress on households becomes overwhelming. There needs to be moreaccountability and transparency regarding utility

pricing. Residentsdeserve to understand why rates continue to increase and what is being done to support consumersduring difficult times. State and local leaders should work together withutilityproviders to createlong-termsolutions that protect residents from excessive financial pressure. Assistance programs, energy efficiency education and fairer rate structurescould make ameaningful difference for thousands of people. Every family deserves the dignity of living in asafe and poweredhome without constant fear of financial hardship. MENSAH CLAND NewOrleans

We also need independent reviewof anyproposalsthatcould significantly increase demand on thepower grid. Communitiesdeserveclear answers, notrusheddecisionsthat prioritize corporate interests over householdaffordability. No family shouldhave to choose between paying theirelectricbill and meeting other basicneeds. It is time forutilityregulators andpolicymakers to put fairness, accountabilityand transparency first.

LAUREEN DOUGLAS NewOrleans

TheAdvocate |The Times-Picayune require astreet address andphone number for verification purposes, but that information is not published. Letters are not to exceed 300 words. Letters to the Editor,The Advocate, P.O. Box 588, Baton Rouge, LA 70821-0588, or email letters@ theadvocate.com. TO SEND US A LETTER, SCANHERE In response to your editorialcartoon by Lisa Benson publishedon May26, thefollowing should be run as the Republican ballot2026, also showinganangry mainstream American voter

Significant inflation in the cost of gas, groceriesand services

“Rich America First” agenda

Taxcuts for thewealthiest

Reduced healthcare for the middle class and poor

Unlimited campaign funds from thebillionaires and corporations

Disregard theU.S. Constitution and the rule of law

Destruction of the U.S. DepartmentofJustice

Destruction of one man/one vote principle by dilution of minority voting rights

Abandoning/threatening our traditional allies

An unnecessary warinthe Middle East without consultation of Congress or the American people.

FRANK W. DAWKINS Lafayette

Black athletes should refuse to take the field at LSU, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and any predominately White school in this state and any other Southern state that is attempting to silence the Black voter Don’tworry about money,you cannot miss something that you never had. And don’tbelieve that you cannot reach the NFL or MLB, NBA from aGrambling, Southern, or Jackson State. If you got talent, they will find you.

GENE GREENE Shreveport

Sensible La.districtlines would benefitneither race or party

Amidst the racially charged arguments surrounding Louisiana’scongressional districts,the reality is that the population distribution within Louisiana isn’tnaturally conducive to either politicalside’sfondest wishes. It’svirtually impossible to create asecond Blackmajority district without majorgerrymandering that violates traditional districting standards. Then again, aneutral application of those same standards naturally would produce asecond district in which aDemocrat, including amoderately liberal Black candidate, would be slightly favored to win

One can reach this conclusion using race-blind principles along with parish population numbers readily available online. The point of this exercise wasn’t arithmetical exactitude butinstead to get withinafew thousand people in each district ofthe average Louisiana congressional district sizeof777,000 residents.

Admittedly, Isaved hours of research time by using Chat GPT and Wikipedia for searches and arithmetic, while crosscheckingtheir numbers against each other —and again, the principles, not exact numbers, are the point here. With those caveats,here’swhat I found, using the court-recognized districting principles of compactness, contiguity and existing parish lines or obvious geographical features such as rivers or lakes. In ordinarylanguage, this means the maps should keep parishes whole to the greatest extent possible, while each district should appear as reasonably concentric shapes. Without racial gerrymandering, the lower part of Louisiana’stoe —the parishes of Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, Lafourche and the West Bank of Jefferson, with sliversfrom Terrebonne andSt. Charles —naturally creates not aBlack majority district, but at least a Black plurality one that, when combined with Hispanic voters,forms anon-White majority.Also consideringthe voting patterns of tens of thousands of liberal White Democrats in New Orleans, an overwhelming likelihood is that aBlack Democrat would win.

The top of the toe, surrounding most of Lake Pontchartrain, wouldbe, as now, a strongly Republicandistrict consisting of the parishes of St. Tammany,Washington, Tangipahoa, St. John the Baptist and

most of St. Charles, plus East Jefferson. Alongand inland from the southcentral coast, the “Cajun parishes” easily form another Republican-leaning district. The western portion of the state from the Gulf to the Arkansas line, roughly aslightly bulbous rectangle includingbothLake Charles and Shreveport, forms another such district —but with asignificant Black population in CaddoParish. Alas, the numbers mean thatone major parish can’tstayintact,so Rapides, inthe middle of the state,does getbisected The fifthofmydistricts is largely rural, so naturally it encompasses by far thelargest amount of territory.Apart from thecitiesofMonroe and Ruston, it essentially takes in every non-Cajun, non-major-urban parish in the state,plus half of the Florida Parishes—the Felicianas, St. Helena and Livingston. (The tiny Florida Parishes jut is unfortunate, butnecessary for the numbers to work.)

Thatwould leave one more district that would be hotly contested. Not perfectly concentric, it nonetheless is far more compact and geographically sensible thanthe crazy-quilt District 2the Legislatureactually produced. In essence, it’s aMississippiRiver district, plus some borderline Cajun parishes. It would include both East and West Baton Rouge parishes, along with Avoyelles, Point Coupee, Iberville, Ascension, Assumption and St. James. For those from either side who obsess about raceorpartisan advantage, this district would causenervous nights. By

my wiki-aided count (again, the general trend, not the exact numbers, are what’s important), the district would have roughly 360,000 Whitevoters, 303,000 Black voters and just over 100,000 of “other” or “mixed” races, with Hispanics clearly predominating among those. Plus, asignificant percentage of the Whites would be Democrats. Meanwhile, some of us insist, with significant evidence, thatrace is not entirely determinative of political victory. Witness Mobile, Alabama, which for six consecutive elections chose amember of the then-minority race as itsmayor twice electing aBlack Democrat when the citywas majority White, thenfour timespicking aWhite Republican after the cityhad become majorityBlack. The “river district” above would almost assuredly mimic Mobile’sexperience, in which successful coalitionbuilding is rewarded. That’sa situation thatisfair,one thatinspires confidence in the system. The broader point:Aneutral computer programmed for compactness, contiguity, parish lines and geographical features would produce something similar to the plan above, without any racial or partisan thumbonthe scales Fora healthy representative democracy, one in which no group thinks the game is rigged against them, that’sthe sort of approach legislators henceforthshould take.

Email QuinHillyer at quin.hillyer@ theadvocate.com

Chronicpilot shortages, ancient planes —Air Forceneeds upgrading

It’s the controversy that has launched athousand Xposts.

Elon Musk, whoisafan of Homer,has kicked up afussbyobjecting to filmmaker ChristopherNolan casting the Black actress Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy in his forthcoming movie versionof“The Odyssey.

The epic production presumably won’trise or fall based on its depiction of Helen, the legendary beauty who precipitated the Trojan War. That conflict is portrayedin“The Iliad,” while “The Odyssey” follows the Greek warrior Odysseus on his return home after the war,a story thatdoesn’tfeature Helenprominently

The casting of Nyong’o,though, has raised the perennialquestion of what Helen looked like,aswellasthe more pedestrianmatterof what the standard should be foractorsplaying people of adifferent race or ethnicity (or, these days, gender).

Helenwas aSpartan woman, marriedto Menelaus, the king of Sparta. When she left him forParis of Troy,itstarted the long battle between the Greeks andTrojans.

Everyone who saw her instantly understood why ayearslong warover her wasworth it: “No wonder the Trojansand well-greaved Achaeanshavesuffered long for such awoman —she is terribly like an immortal goddess to look at.”

The genius of Homer’sdescription of Helen is thatheleaves it vague, and therefore up to the imagination. We know, though, thatshe wasn’tblack

The co-host of “The View”Sunny Hostin slammed allthe critics of the choice of Nyong’o as ignoramuses for not realizing that Africawas supposedly the sourceofAncient Greece. In so doing, she reliedona discredited book called“Black Athena”thatmaintained thatancient Sparta and Phoenicia colonized Ancient Greece. There is no evidence for this whatsoever— onescholarly critic compared its highly politicizedclaims to “the Aryanscience of the Third Reich or the Lysenkoite geneticsofStalinist Russia.”

Ancient Greece was Indo-European in origin; people who livedinthe area back thenlooked by andlarge,like people who live there now. Homer says thatHelen was “white-armed,” suggesting thatshe was fair-skinned, and otherancient sources can be interpreted as saying thatshe hadlight hair and blue eyes, although there’s debate about this.

U.S. Air Force B-52s have been busy in thewar against Iran, as they were in Vietnam, and when they were crucial Cold Warcomponents of the nation’s nuclear triad of air,land and sea-based deterrence. Wars are mostly fought by young people, but today,geriatric machines participateinthe wild blue yonder Of the 76 extant B-52s, the youngest was built in 1962, before the Beatles’ first album and the Cuban missile crisis. According to Joseph Trevithick of the WarZone, adefensenews and analysis website, current planning envisions these heavy bombers in service until 2050, when the youngest will be 88 and will have outlasted today’sB-1sand B-2s. The B-52s have undergone many upgrades and are now in amodernization program: new engines and avionics. But as Trevithick writes, “At some point, the airframes will simply age out.” Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. David Deptula, now dean of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, writes in Forbes “the bulk of our Air Force”—10 aircraft types, more than 2,600 aircraft, twothirds of the entire force— “consists of geriatric fighter,bomber and trainer aircraft that were designed and built before the internet was invented,” having had their first flights morethan 50 years ago Former defense secretary Robert Gates, one of our wisestnationalsecurity thinkers, was imprecise when in 2024 he lamented that “our Air Force has stagnated in size.” The situation is worse than that. Since Operation Desert Storm (1991), the number of fighter squadrons has declined from 134 to 56, the number of fighter pilot flight hours per month has declined from 22.3 to under 10, and theaverage age of fighter planes has increased from 9.7years to 30.3years. What the AirForce calls its“advanced” trainer first flew in 1959 —the Eisenhower administration.

The Iran war hashighlighted the weakness of the nation’sdefense industrial base andthe precarious condition of its munitions stocks. The American Enterprise Institute’sMackenzie Eaglen, writing in the Dispatch, reports that U.S. forces expendedmore than1,000 Tomahawk cruise missilesina few weeks. Because average annual production has been 90 to 100, she says, “absent acceleration, replenishing this key armament …would take roughly 10 years.”

Ouradversaries in Beijing and Moscow know this, and know the production of sophisticated weapons cannot easily be surged. Readers of the 2024 report by the U.S. Commission on the National Defense Strategy knowthat today’sthreats are the most serious “since 1945 and include the potential for near-term major war.” Deptula notes that the Air Forceis older,smaller and less ready to deter or win amajor war than at any timesince it became an independent service in 1947.

Thepilotshortage is now chronic. Today the game is more than2,000 short of requirements. The Mitchell Institute’s Heather R. Penney writes thatthe Air Force “has been unsuccessful in meaningfully improving its pilot retention rates for over twenty years.” To those who say unmanned systemsare radically reducing the importance of pilots, she says: “Algorithmsand software, no matter how sophisticated, cannot replace

the creativity, initiative, and judgmentto decide and act through the fog and frictionofwar thatonly human cognition at the forward edge of the battlespace can provide.”

The war to defang Iran has been areminderthatthere are things, such as regime change, thatairpower alone cannot accomplish. But consider what airpower has done to implement the U.S. political objective of reducing that regime’s capacityfor projecting threats against other nations.

The Washington-based Institute for the Study of Warnotes thatU.S.and Israeli operations achieved air dominance over Iran in 72 hours, partly because of Israeli attacks on Iran’sair defense radars in Apriland October2024. And the Iranian missile force is muchmore thanmissiles and launchers. It is crews, communications and computer networks, productionand logistical facilities. Airpower has struck one of the few ball bearing plants (crucial for ballistic missile guidance systems),atleast 69 facilities associated with the production of missiles warheads and explosives, and at least 11 research and development facilities. Rebuilding its production chain will take many years. All this without “bootson the ground.” Most developed democracies contentedly assumeperpetual peace, and are ever more casualty-averse. That this social-political fact converges with myriad military facts (the force structures of China and Russia) adds urgency onto making U.S. airpower again adequatefor its many missions.

Email George Will at georgewill@ washpost.com.

Certainly,depictions on film have favored this interpretation. The 2004 movie “Troy” castthe gorgeous, blonde-haired, blue-eyed German actress Diane Kruger as Helen. All thatsaid, whatthe role most requiresis luminous beauty,and there’snothing inherently wrong with casting actorsinroles thatdon’t match their ethnicity.Macbeth wasn’tAfrican American,but DenzelWashington played him compellingly in amovie version.

The problemisthat such casting decisions can be distracting, or even parodic. The Churchill movie “Darkest Hour” had the wartime prime ministertaking arandomtrip on the LondonUnderground and getting apep talk fromablack laborer.Why insult everyone’sintelligence with this kind of pandering? Also,there should be auniform standard. Whenever awhite actor or actress is cast in anotherethnic role it is condemnedas“whitewashing.” There was afurorwhenScarlett JohanssonplayedMotokoKusanagi in the movie versionofthe Japanese manga series“Ghost in the Shell,” even though the character is a cyborg. Johansson had to back outofanother project where she wascast as atrans mandespite herself being acis woman. Aheadline in Allure magazine at the time read, “Scarlett Johansson Is Facing Major Backlash forSaying She ‘Should Be Allowed to Play’ Anyone.” What’sgood forLupita Nyong’o should be good forScarlett Johansson, and vice versa. But Hollywood wants to put its finger on the scale; it has preposterous, bean-counting standards forwhat filmscan be considered for Oscars based on the inclusion of “underrepresented groups” on screen and in other ways. If Nolan has done his job, this controversy will be overwhelmed by the power of Homer’s work, perhaps the second greatest story ever told.

RichLowry is on X@RichLowry.

George Will

Rich Lowry

Quin Hillyer

STAFF PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS

Sen. JayMorris, R-West Monroe, holdsupa proposed congressional map during a House andGovernmental Affairs Committee meeting on May21.

ProhockeywillstayinBaton Rouge

BY IANNE SALVOSA Staff writer

About amonth after the future of professional hockey locally darkenedwhen the Baton Rouge Zydeco team president and owner left the organization, Mayor-President Sid Edwards and officials with the Raising Cane’sRiver Center announced the team will remain under new ownership. At anews conference Wednesday,itwas announced that the owners of the Binghamton (New York) Black Bears will take over control of the team. The Black Bears have won the last three championships of the Federal Prospect Hockey League, the same league the Zydeco compete in.

The ownership group will include Jacob Hector,aBaton Rouge native who owns Tiger Nutrition, Happy Scoops Ice Cream Parlor and Badger Mechanical, and Binghamton owners Matt Pace, Andreas Johans-

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her and to sexually pleasure her numerous timesin both the “day area” and the bathroom of the Center for Youth. Nash is accused of telling the teenageratone point: “You’re not going homeif you don’tcome in the cut and have sex,” accordingto the suit.

The suit also says Nash purposefully schemed to keep the teenager in custody atthe Center for Youth in order to continue her abuse. She allegedly carriedthis out by repeatedlydisciplining thevictim with “write-

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“People will ultimately have achoiceofwhether or not they shop there,” said council member Ricky Gonsoulin. “It’snot every business in New Iberia that’sgoing to have this.”

DeCourt says the district will increasethe city’s sales tax revenue, give residents more opportunities to do

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in an alleged carjacking reportedly firedshotsatlaw enforcement. Authorities also said an additional crash occurred on La. 13 as aresult of the incident.

Preliminary information indicates the suspect vehicle may be connected to the alleged Eunice carjacking before entering Crowley Police confirmed that the occupants of the second vehicle involvedinthe Crowley crash, which was not connected to the carjacking, sustained minor injuries.

Officials say updates will be provided as more information becomes available.

Twoteens arrested in murder investigation

Twomore people have been arrested in connection with the death of aLafayette Parish teen.

Markayla Angelle,19, and Zarious Morrison, 18, were arrested Mondaynight by the Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office on seconddegree murder chargesin connection with the fatal shooting.

The shooting occurred just after 1:30 p.m. April 19 in the 100blockofSweetbriar Street, where deputies founda17-year-old male suffering from agunshot wound. The victim was transported to ahospitalin critical condition Authorities confirmed on

son and TedGoldthorpe. RiverCenter general manager Wayne Hodes said after the Zydeco folded which wasa mutualagreement —heengagedinnegotiations with many teams and leagues to continue hockey in Baton Rouge, prioritizing obtaining a new owner,management and brand. The newhockey team will have athree-year lease at the River Center, with arequirement to sell an average of 3,000 tickets pergame after the first season. If the team does not meet the threshold, the RiverCenter can cancel the lease, Hodessaid “Yesterday,wecame in, we signed our agreement, so now they re going to move forward with full force,” Hodes said.

Thenew team will play in the2026-27 hockey season, creatinga tight timeline forthe ownerstowhipthe organization into shape. Thegroup willretainthe Zydeco roster butwill participateinadraft.

Pacesaid the new ownership group will work on earningthe trust of the Baton Rouge community

ups”thatcould endanger his release date. Nash would also use mace andbeat up the victimand other incarcerated juveniles, thesuitsays. She kept up communication with the victim bothinpersonand on jailphone calls while she wasoff, the detainee said. The victim attemptedmultiple timestomake authorities aware of the abuse he was experiencing, the suit claims, noting that the teen hadcalledthe PrisonRape Elimination Act hotline multiple times to no avail. The Acadiana Center for Youth is accusedof then removing Prison RapeElimination Act informational signs, which itself violates theact.

shopping in the community, andcreate additional economic opportunities within the city,asentiment that Gonsoulin concurred with. “We’re not trying to reinventthe wheel here.Thisis doneall over the state and nation to tryand attract businesses,” said Gonsoulin. “There’ssome naysayers out therewho say we’re taxing them to death.We’re not. We’recreating an environment and aquality oflife for people to raise theirfamilies.

April21 that Wykiel Provost, 17, of Lafayette and an Acadiana Highstudent, died from his injuries.

Keenan Charles, 17, was previously booked on May 26 intothe Lafayette Parish Correctional Center in connection with the case. Theinvestigation remains ongoing.

Twoarrested in Opelousasshooting

Twosuspects have been arrested in connection with ashooting that left one persondeadand another seriously injured in Opelousas. The shooting occurred May26 in the400 blockof West Bellevue Street. The victim who died was identified as 24-year-old Dontre Williams, of Lafayette. A second victimsustained serious injuries.

According to the Opelousas Police Department, investigators quickly identified suspects through witness interviews, surveillance footage, forensic analysis, evidencecollection and other investigative efforts. Detectives developed sufficient evidence to identifythe suspectsand obtain arrest warrants less than 24 hours after the shooting.

Ronnie Jean Jr.was booked on counts of firstdegree murder,attempted first-degree murder, illegal useofweapons or dangerousinstrumentalities, possession of afirearmbya convicted felon, and assault by drive-by shooting. Diovanni Lafountain fac-

by engaging with fans and partnering withlocal businesses. He said thegroup became interestedininvesting in Baton Rouge hockey duetothe region’s ability to “rally behindits winners.”

“While we arethe ownership of this team on paper, this isn’tour team,” Pace said. “It’s your team. This is Baton Rouge’steam.”

There has been speculationthe teamwill be rebranded as the BatonRouge Kingfish, but Hodes and Edwards said they would announce the nameofthe teaminthe coming weeks, along with providing a schedule and ticket information.Whetherthere will be public input in thenaming process willbedetermined by thenew owners, Hodes said.

In advanceofWednesday’snews conference, the local hockey team’sofficial Facebook fan page wasrenamed the Official Baton Rouge Kingfish FanGroup on Tuesday.YouTuberFed East Flash, whocovers the FPHL,said the Kingfish will return under anew ownership group at theRiver

The victim recorded the abuse in ajournal, which was seized by the Avoyelles Parish Sheriff’sOffice during itsinvestigation. Only after theteen and his mother spokewithhis youth counselor were theyable to make Judge Adam Haney of the EastBaton Rouge Juvenile Court aware of the abuse during acourt hearing on May 29, 2025, for adifferent matter,the filing says. Nash was arrested that same month andbooked on acount of malfeasance in office —sexual conduct.

The civil suit filedagainst herlastweekseeks damages greater than $10,000, alleging sexual battery,sexual assault andintentionalinfliction of emotional distress.

That costs money.” Additionally,sincethe district does not have residents within the boundaries,voter approval is not required. Local residents will have an opportunitytovoice their opinions on the district’screation during the June 16 council meeting. Both the procedural resolution and theordinance allowing for the creation of the district passed with unanimousapproval from thecouncil.

es the same charges: firstdegree murder,attempted first-degree murder,illegal useofweapons or dangerous instrumentalities,possession of afirearmbya convicted felon and assault by drive-by shooting.

Policesaid surveillance footagehelpedestablish the suspects’ movements and identities beforethe shooting. Detectives alsoworked closely withthe United States Marshals Service to locate thesuspectsnamed in thewarrants. Through acoordinated multiagency effort, both men werelocated and taken into custody in separate jurisdictions Investigatorssaid they have foundnoevidence indicating theshooting was part of anyorganized conflict targetingthe city of Opelousas.Based on evidence gathered thus far,authorities believe the incident stemmedfrom a dispute involving people connected to the case and was notdirectedatthe community at large.

LOTTERY

TUESDAY,JUNE 2, 2026

PICK 3: 9-5-9

PICK 4: 7-9-0-0

PICK 5: 0-0-8-0-8

MEGA MILLIONS: 15-26-43-48-60

MEGA BALL: 12 Unofficial notification, keep your tickets.

Center in avideo posted Wednesday.

The Kingfish played in Baton Rougeinthe late ’90s and early 2000s before moving to Victoria,Canada. Minor league hockey got a revivalinthe capital region three years agowhenthe Zydecocame to town

Theteam came to Baton Rougeinpart thanks to a sizable investment from the administration of thenMayor-President Sharon Weston Broome andthe Metro Council. Edwards said he’sinterested in helping the newteam.

“We’ve tightened our belts in the city-parish, but Iamcommitted,and I’ll speak for our council as well. Whatever help and assistance this new organization needs, we certainly want to work with them,” Edwardssaid.

Hector grewupwatching theKingfish, he said, and will serve as alocal voice on the ownership team, making up for the strugglesof theZydeco. He attributes part of theZydeco’sdemise to previousownersnot owning up to their faultsand saidthe new ownerswill

Nash’sposition was considereda“guard” under Louisiana lawand is thus not allowed tohave sex with inmates,the suit argues

“Defendant KeyanaNash’s acts arethe exact acts PREA (the Prison Rape Elimination Act) sought to prevent,” thesuit reads.“Theimbalance of power prohibits any offender,much lessayouthful offender,toconsent to sexual acts while incarcerated.”

Nash’scaseisn’t isolated either,the suitclaims.Another guard, KhyWinbush, was arrested around the sametime as Nashand accused of having sexwith juvenile inmates at the Acadiana Center for Youth.

In August, guard Regina

emphasize communication withfansand local businesses.

“A lotofpeople were mistreated, and Idon’twant to go in toomuchonthatindetail, but we’re very excited to change the narrative,” Hector said. In the first season of operations, the Zydeco broke the league record for season attendance with more than 110,000 fans showing up for games, raking in $8.1 millionineconomic impact forthe city

But the team saw attendancedropinsubsequent seasons. In themostrecent season, just under 61,500 fans showed up forgames, which caused the Zydeco to rank eighth in attendance out of the FPHL’s 14 teams. The team finishedin second-to-last place in their division, ending up with 17 wins and39losses

Success on the ice is just onecomponenttoasuccessful team, Johansson said. Fan engagement is crucial to the organization, and he feels confident about rebuilding the trust in Baton Rouge,which he says has strongsupport forhockey

Holmes was also accused of criminal sexual acts with an inmate at the center

“The decision-making leadersatAcadiana Center forYouth, OfficeofJuvenile Justiceallowedthese guards free rein to control these young teenagers and manipulate them for their sexual desires,” the suit claims. “Any supervisor would knoworshould know of the rampant sex crimes occurring on hiswatch by the guards because these sexactscould notoccurunless the supervisors either knew of them or were completely incompetent.”

Email Quinn Coffman at quinn.coffman@ theadvocate.com.

SPORTS

BY LUKE JOHNSON Staff writer

The secondofthreeorganized team activities is in the books forthe New Orleans Saints, and this week’sedition included asurprise guest in running back Alvin Kamara.

BY MATTHEW PARAS Staff writer

Alvin Kamara didn’ttellanyoneonthe NewOrleansSaints that he was planningtoshow up to Wednesday’s offseason workout. The Saints runningback, who has awell-documented history of skipping these voluntary sessions, wanted the surprise to speak for itself.

Mission accomplished

“I walked in this morning

Legendarycollege football coach Woody Hayes once said there were three things that can happen when you pass the ball and that two of them were bad.

and Iwas just talking (trash) to some dudes andthey looked up, like,‘Man …who the (expletive)?’”Kamara said, recalling hisarrival. “They were like, ‘Oh (expletive), AK!’”

His coachdefinitely was not in on the surprise. “Obviously alittle bit unexpected,” coach Kellen Moore said. After weeks of uncertainty

them relating to money

This hasbeen an interesting offseasonfor the Saints star, who is coming offhis worstseasonas aprofessional. NewOrleans signed running back Travis Etienne to abig contract in theearly stages of free agency,then proceeded to further muddy the waters surrounding Kamara’sstatus with the team by refusing on multiple occasions to state that he would be part of theteam in 2026. From Kamara’svantage point, everything had been all quiet until Wednesday, when he showed up forthe voluntary workout with the rest of the squad. Thisalone wasnewsworthy,asithad been years since Kamara participated in anyofthe Saints’ voluntary offseason work.

His participation Wednesday felt like atacit acknowledgement of all that has transpired this offseason, even if he declined to add any fuel to the speculation when speakingwith reporters after practice.

Kamara said he flew from Miami to New Orleans late Tuesday night. He wentthrough light workwith his teammates Wednesday,taking second-team reps during thewalk-through period and going through drills with the rest of the running backs during someindividual position periods. It is definitely tooearly to saythere has been any sort of resolution between the two sides, but Kamara making an appearance this week does at least feel like the start of something. Onto the observations.

Attendance

The following players were not seen during the open practice viewing period: running back Kendre Miller,wide receiver Chris Olave, defensive linemanZxavian Harris,defensivelineman

BY KEVIN FOOTE Staff writer

If Hayes,who died in 1987, were still around, he might say college athletics is facing two prospects, and both ofthem are bad. Unfortunately,collegesports leaders —coaches,athletic directors, school presidents and conference commissioners have only themselves to blame for being where we are in 2026. EitherNCAAschools must embrace federal legislation to curb their ills, which likely will bring with it plenty of unintended consequences. Or they can allow unchecked spending to continue, possibly bringing many schools (notjust athletic departments) to financial ruin and definitely resulting in college sports programs being cut all over the country

The bipartisan Protect College Sports Act, unveiled last week by Sens. TedCruz (R-Texas) and Maria Cantwell (D-Washington), aims to do what NCAA schools have been unable or unwilling to do: address major issues facing college athletics today,most of

In an age when Republicans and Democrats can’tagreeon what color the sky is, what does it say when both sides of the aisle believe college sports needs fixing?

They held ahearing on Capitol Hill on Wednesdaywith numerous major college sports figures testifying in regardstothe proposed bill.The most prominent wasformer LSU and Alabama football coach NickSaban Sabantalked about howNIL budgets went from $2.7 million nearthe endof his tenure at Alabama to $40millionfor some college football teams today.“Some teams,” if former LSU coach Brian Kelly is to be believed,includesthe Tigers.

“It’sbecome an arms race,” Sabansaid. “Who spends the most hasgot the best chance to win. But Ithinkit’sarace to the bottom, because if you don’tspend to win you lose yourfan base and youdon’thaveany revenue.”

The Protect College Sports Act, among other things, would seek to limit athletes to aonetime transfer without penalty, prohibit former professional athletes from playingincollege, cap eligibility at five years and prohibit acoach from leavingfor another school before the pres-

Even in thetransferportal era, UL coachQuannasWhite remains steadfastthat developing players is the primary mission of his program.

Watching the progress of DerrickFlorence, one of nine additions to the Ragin’ Cajuns roster this offseason,issomething White is looking forward to during theupcoming season

“Derrickisdefinitely one of those guys where his best basketball is ahead of him,” White said. “He has huge,huge upside.”

Florence is anative of Mobile, Alabama, but after three seasons of high school basketball at Baker High, he spent aseason at Our SaviorLutheranPrep in New York.

“The junior-collegecoaches in my area kind of told methat was thebest idea for me,” Florence said. “I was alittle better than that and theprep school would help me

“I feel like Igot better everywhere. Thegame was alot quicker than when Iplayed in high school. Igot better everyday getting smarter on the court and thinking alittle quickeronmyfeet.”

In his first game in November aftercommitting to the Cajuns in late August, Florence had 29 points, 17 rebounds, five assists, three blocks andtwo steals.

The 6-foot-6wing playersaid prep school helpedhim be more patient on the floor andtolearn how to letthings develop.

It’sbeen alearning process for Florence since his sophomore season in high school. He played wide receiver in football fromthe ageof 5until his freshman season. “I wasn’tdoing as wellinfootball, so Itried basketball my 10th grade year and Ifell in love with it,”Florencesaid.

Rabalais

Saints quarterback Spencer Rattler,left, and runningback Alvin Kamara embrace during an OTApractice in Metairieon Wednesday.

STAFF PHOTOSByBRETT DUKE

Saints running back AlvinKamara runs adrill during an OTApractice in Metairie on Wednesday.

FRENCH OPEN

Top-ranked Sabalenka falls flat

BY JEROME PUGMIRE AP sportswriter

PARIS After letting another big lead slip with an error-strewn performance at the French Open, top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka felt like getting as far away from the courts as possible.

“Just want to quit tennis right now,” Sabalenka said after wasting a lead of a set and two breaks in a 3-6, 7-5, 6-0 loss to Diana Shnaider in the quarterfinals on Wednesday “We’ll see in few days. Hopefully I’ll get back on track mentally.” Sabalenka’s wait for a first French Open title continues despite the four-time major winner leading 4-1 in the second set and being two points from victory while serving for the match at 5-4. What followed was a complete collapse as she lost 12 of the last 13 games against a player appearing in her first Grand Slam quarterfinal, looking increasingly frustrated and forlorn in the windy conditions.

Just like her loss to Coco Gauff in last year’s final, when she also won the first set before becoming undone with a slew of unforced errors, this one will take some time to get over

“You know those rooms where you just go in and you smash everything,” Sabalenka said. “Probably I will spend a whole day tomorrow over there destroying stuff. Maybe it will help, maybe not.”

Shnaider next faces Maja Chwalinska, who extended her remarkable Roland Garros run by beating No. 22-seeded Anna Kalinskaya 7-6 (3), 6-3.

Sabalenka stood still and screamed loudly after losing a point to fall 0-30 down in the sixth game of the decider and, although she saved two match points at 0-40 down, she lost when she sent a shot into the net.

“I just think it’s combination of everything,” Sabalenka lamented. “You overthink, then you make easy mistakes, then you miss opportunities.”

Her struggles were reminiscent of the match against Gauff, when

she remonstrated loudly, shouting to herself and glaring at her team box.

“I just have to sit back and openly think about what’s going on in my head in those tough moments,” Sabalenka said, recalling that match. “Because I’m quite an experienced player I have been through so many things, and I overcome so many things.”

Sabalenka had already looked agitated when serving for the first set but still looked in control as she served for the match in the second, holding a 30-15 lead.

“Of course I saw some moments of her frustration,” Shnaider said. “I know Aryna, that she’s a very emotional person.”

Shnaider, who was already on her best run at a major, broke Sabelenka before taking complete control.

“Well, honestly I am speechless.

Super happy,” Shnaider said. “I feel like I was trying to focus point by point. Not thinking about the score. She is the world No. 1, so I just trying to do my best. I just had to fight for every point.”

Sabalenka looked increasingly frustrated as the third set wore on and when she missed a volley

at the net in the fourth game of the decider she crouched and rested her head on her racket.

From qualifier to contender

The unseeded Chwalinska came through three qualifying rounds to become only the second Polish woman to reach the semifinals at Roland Garros, along with Swiatek.

Chwalinska said British player

Emma Raducanu’s run to the 2021 U.S. Open title as an 18-year-old qualifier had inspired her

“It was such an impressive run, you know,” Chwalinska recalled.

“Also, she was so young.”

When Kalinskaya’s big forehand from the back of the court went out, the 24-year-old Chwalinska had her biggest win, having never been beyond the second round at any major before this tournament.

Chwalinska’s total prize money heading into Roland Garros was $864,030 and reaching the last four here earns her 750,000 euros (about $872,000).

Italian men’s finalist

In the men’s quarterfinals, 10thseeded Flavio Cobolli beat No. 4 Felix Auger-Aliassime 4-6, 6-4 6-4,

6-4 and will face fellow Italian Matteo Arnaldi for a spot in the final. Arnaldi advanced when Matteo Berrettini, yet another Italian, retired due to a left hip injury with Arnaldi leading 7-5, 5-2. Berrettini had his hip treated during a medical timeout earlier in the second set.

The strong Italian showing comes despite top-ranked Jannik Sinner getting stunned in the second round.

Second-seeded Alexander Zverev and No. 26 Jakub Mensik will meet in the other semifinal.

Another upset

It was another big upset in a tournament where defending champion Gauff (third round) and fourtime winner Iga Swiatek (fourth round) already tumbled out. Sinner last year’s runner-up, served for the match in a secondround defeat, and 24-time major winner Novak Djokovic wasted a two-set lead in a third-round loss. That opened things up for lesserknown players. According to Opta, this is the first major without a former champion in either the men’s and women’s semifinals since the French Open in 1977.

Korda charges into U.S. Women’s Open on a roll

BY GREG BEACHAM AP sportswriter

LOS ANGELES Nelly Korda fell just short of her first U.S. Women’s Open title a year ago, coming up second to Maja Stark in a finish that was painfully appropriate for her inexplicably winless calendar year But that disappointment at Erin Hills is a primary reason Korda arrived at venerable Riviera this week as the world’s No. 1 player and a favorite to raise the trophy at the 81st Open.

“I was just hungry for more,” Korda said of last year’s Open experience. “Last year was just a weird year of kind of not necessarily playing my best, but also when I did, not getting the bounces or just missing by a centimeter here and there. But I also learned a lot about myself. It made me hungrier to be in those positions.”

Korda has been eating this year, all right.

A dominant major title at The Chevron Championship. Three victories overall. Three more secondplace finishes, and an emphatic return to the top of the rankings.

Korda says she welcomes the pressure that accompanies her success, and she is thrilled to be under the spotlight and playing for the richest prize pool in women’s golf at the first women’s Open ever held at Riviera, the 100-year-old country club nestled in Pacific Palisades and patronized by decades of Hollywood royalty

“I’m just motivated to put myself into that position, to grind on off weeks, to just play the game,” Korda said. “It’s really hard to explain, but there’s nothing better when you’re a very competitive person than being in the hunt on a back nine at a tournament. There’s a really big rush of emotions. Even if it doesn’t

three weeks ago.

First starts

Megha Ganne is beginning her pro career at Riviera just one week after last year’s U.S. Women’s Amateur champion led Stanford to another NCAA title, making the winning putt to beat USC down the coast in Carlsbad, California. Trojans star and Irvine native Catherine Park is also making her pro debut at Riviera.

Ganne played in the final group of the 2021 Open as a 17-year-old high schooler at Olympic Club in San Francisco, eventually finishing as the top amateur As her pro career approached, she has been leaning on her LPGA Tour friends, including three-time major champion Lydia Ko.

QB Williams strikes a pose for Madden NFL ’27 cover

Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams was announced Wednesday as EA Sports’ cover athlete for Madden NFL 27.

On the standard cover, Williams is depicted in a position similar to his pivotal, scrambling, fourth-and-8 jump pass to Rome Odunze in a stirring comeback victory over Green Bay in a wild-card playoff game on Jan. 10.

With his arm cocked to throw and his feet spread, Williams appears to soar above a silhouette of the Chicago skyline.

The deluxe edition features a tight shot of Williams with arms crossed over his white game jersey, a dark, night-like background and snow falling around him.

Being featured on the cover is “like my childhood dream was coming true,” Williams said in a statement.

Warrant issued for 49ers’ Aiyuk on speeding charge

SANTA CLARA, Calif The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office has issued an arrest warrant for San Francisco 49ers receiver Brandon Aiyuk on a misdemeanor charge of exhibition of speeding.

District attorney’s spokesman Sean Webby confirmed Wednesday that the warrant has been issued in response to a video Aiyuk posted to social media last December that appeared to show him speeding on the road in front of Levi’s Stadium.

Aiyuk posted an apology a few days after the video that appeared to show him driving well over the posted speed limit of 40 mph.

The 28-year-old Aiyuk has 294 catches for 4,305 yards and 25 TDs since being drafted in the first round in 2020.

Prosecutors drop charges against Falcons WR Branch ATHENS, Ga. — Prosecutors in Georgia have dropped two misdemeanor charges against Atlanta Falcons third-round draft pick and receiver Zachariah Branch.

The former Georgia player was arrested in Athens the weekend before the NFL draft and was charged with obstructing public sidewalks/streets and the obstruction of a law enforcement officer. He was released on a combined $39 bail.

At the time, the Athens-Clarke County Police said they were summoned to an early morning incident in which a large crowd had gathered outside a bar in Athens and was blocking the entrance to the building.

Branch’s attorney, Kim Stephens, issued a statement confirming that the charges had been dropped.

Padres designate outfielder Castellanos for assignment

PHILADELPHIA — The San Diego Padres designated outfielder Nick Castellanos for assignment on Wednesday, one day after he received a video tribute in his return to Philadelphia. Castellanos was released by the Phillies in February just ahead of their first full-squad workout at spring training. The Phillies released him even though they owed him $20 million for the final season of a $100 million, five-year contract. The Padres took a flier on him and spent only the league minimum of around $780,000 for him this season. Castellanos never returned to his two-time All-Star form in limited action with San Diego. He hit .191 with a .560 OPS, four home runs and 20 RBIs in 39 games for the Padres.

work out, you constantly want to put yourself back into that, because all that work that you’ve put in in your off weeks. That’s what makes it worth it.”

Korda took the past two weeks off to make sure she was fully rested and prepared for the Open and for Riviera, a course she had played only once before this week. This tournament has never been held anywhere in Los Angeles County, easily the most populous in the U.S.

“It’s amazing out here,” Korda said. “I mean, the vibe of the place, knowing that so much history has been played out here, it’s a great place for us to play.”

Stark contrast

Stark began the week by return-

Stark had been on the fringes of the LPGA Tour field before her victory last year at Erin Hills but after securing her tour status with a major win, the Swede promptly missed the cut in five of her next seven tournaments. She’s now paying more attention to the mental side of her game, hiring a therapist and a sports psychologist.

The results are promising: Stark is up to 23rd in the world after making seven cuts in eight starts this season, finishing 16th in Cincinnati

ing the trophy she won by holding off Korda last year at the Open, but she wasn’t sad to comply with tradition. “I did kind of want to let it go, because it’s weird — it’s like I had it sitting in my room, and I just saw it every day,” Stark said “And I’m like, ‘Oh, this is cool.’ But I just want to move on I want the challenge again. It was fun to have it, but it’s more fun to play for it than to have it I guess.”

“Being a professional is about the little stuff, and the stuff you can’t really see, like invisible little details,” Ganne said. “That stuff comes with experience, time, maturity and having a good team around you.”

No matter how her debut goes, Ganne is graduating from Stanford next week.

Wie’s back

Michelle Wie West is coming out of retirement to play her first tournament since the 2023 U.S. Open.

The former wunderkind’s only major victory was at the Open in 2014, and the 36-year-old mother of two used her final year of exemption for a spot in this field.

Her husband, Jonnie West, will caddy for her at Riviera, while daughter Makenna will be watching.

“Last time I retired at Pebble Beach, Makenna was 2 and doesn’t really have any memories,” she said. “Hopefully being 6 now, she’ll have a lot more memories of being here this week.”

Mets option Tong, recall Gerber to refresh bullpen

SEATTLE The New York Mets optioned right-hander Jonah Tong to Triple-A Syracuse on Wednesday before their series finale against the Seattle Mariners.

Righty Joey Gerber was recalled from Syracuse in a corresponding move.

Tong, the No. 35 prospect in MLB Pipeline’s rankings and second in the Mets organization, pitched 31/3 innings in Tuesday’s 8-3 loss, allowing four runs on five hits while striking out four and walking two. Tong, 22, appeared in three games this season as a bulk reliever after being called up May 22. In 10 innings, he posted a 3.60 ERA with seven strikeouts and seven walks. Gerber has made one appearance for the Mets this

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ASHLEy LANDIS

Nelly Korda hits during a practice round ahead of the U.S. Women’s Open on Tuesday in Los Angeles.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By EMMA DA SILVA

Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus reacts after losing a quarterfinal match against Diana Shnaider of Russia at the French Open in Paris on Wednesday.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By JOSE LUIS MAGANA

Saban supports Senate bill, but SEC, Big Ten push back

BY JOEY CAPPELLETTI and EDDIE PELLS Associated Press

WASHINGTON Former Alabama football coach Nick Saban and others testified Wednesday in support of a bipartisan bill aimed at overhauling a college sports system where players can increasingly earn millions of dollars while moving freely between schools.

The leaders of the Senate Commerce Committee held the hearing as they push legislation unveiled last week that supporters hope can break the congressional gridlock over how to regulate college athletics. But it’s already facing criticism from some senators and the two most influential conferences in college sports.

The bill, introduced by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., would regulate payments to athletes, limit them to one “free” transfer during their careers and create a “Lane Kiffin Rule” restricting coaches from leaving programs during the season. Cruz touted the proposal as “the last, best hope we have to save college sports.”

“If you had the biggest, baddest Ferrari that you could ever have and it was going 150 miles an hour toward the Grand Canyon somebody needs to tap the brakes. And I think that’s what we all need to do here,” Saban said in his opening remarks.

Notably absent from the the witness list, which included the Notre Dame athletic director and the

KAMARA

Continued from page 1C

about whether he’ll be on the roster next season, Kamara’s surprise appearance Wednesday was the latest twist in a saga that already has taken its fair share of turns. But the situation, even with the visit, is far from settled. The Saints have indicated they would like to address Kamara’s contract, but speaking to reporters for the first time since last season, the Saints’ all-time leading rusher said he hasn’t talked with general manager Mickey Loomis, nor has he been approached about taking a pay cut. Kamara is entering the last year of his contract and holds a cap hit of nearly $10.5 million, which was already reduced earlier this offseason when the Saints restructured the deal using an unconventional salary cap tactic called the 50% rule. The Saints also seemingly signed his replacement in March by giving a four-year, $52 million contract to Travis Etienne. Kamara, who reiterated that he had no problem with Etienne’s signing, said he’s “going to be ready” to play for the Saints next season. He also acknowledged there are some “conversations that may need to be had” to determine his status.

“Look, I’m prepared,” Kamara said. “I’m under contract. I still got my locker That’s really why I came. My locker’s still here My fingerprint still works at the door

Like I guess I’m here, right?

“That’s what that means. You know what I’m saying? So yeah, man, I’m good.”

If Kamara’s unexpected attendance was a way to put pressure on the franchise to make a decision, the running back did not confirm the tactic. He said he wanted

commissioner of the newly reconstructed Pac-12 Conference, were any representatives from either the Big Ten or Southeastern Conference. Saban won seven national championships at SEC schools Alabama and LSU but said he was not in Washington to represent any conference or team.

The SEC and the Big Ten, the two most powerful conferences in college sports, oppose the bill, arguing it “leaves critical issues unresolved.”

Asked after the hearing about opposition from the SEC and Big Ten, Cruz said he remains confident the bill can pass Congress.

“We’re going to get the votes,” Cruz said. “If we do nothing, there is no alternative. As every witness testified, college sports is facing a crisis.”

Cantwell said at Wednesday’s hearing that the legislation is intended to restore competition to college athletics by ensuring success is determined by how universities “build a team, and not because they have a billionaire in their back pocket.”

She also addressed the conferences’ opposition directly, suggesting they fear a more level playing field and the idea “that somebody’s going to come in and rearrange the deck chairs of those conferences steal the eyeball schools, and then basically leave everybody with everything else.”

While Cruz and Cantwell, the two top-ranked lawmakers on the Senate Commerce Committee, support the bill, passage through the

to show up at some point because of the number of teammates who had checked up on him over the last several months. Kamara said he made the decision to book a late flight Tuesday and arrived in New Orleans at 1 a.m. before showing up to the facility in the morning.

The Saints seemed unprepared for Kamara’s arrival. New Orleans had the five-time Pro Bowler participate in individual drills but chose not to include him in any 7-on-7 work or team walk-throughs. During individual drills, Kamara’s reps came notably after Etienne and several other backs.

Moore said Kamara’s workload would be lighter since he has to go through an “acclimation process” of getting up to speed.

“I’m excited to be able to spend a little bit of time with him and just kind of see where he’s at,” Moore said. “But it’s good to see him.”

Even Wednesday, Moore appeared noncommittal about Kamara’s future. The coach said Kamara could fit in “really well from an offensive standpoint,” but he deflected when asked several times whether the Saints had decided to keep him around for next season. The lack of a decision has been polarizing. Former Saints safety Tyrann Mathieu criticized the franchise for not acting in “good faith,” arguing the Saints were mistreating their all-time leading rusher Mathieu suggested the Saints don’t have “the balls to outright cut him” and would rather Kamara retire.

Second-year running back Devin Neal said he had been speaking with Kamara “pretty consistently” this offseason, which is why he wasn’t completely shocked the veteran showed up to practice this week. Neal said Kamara had told

RABALAIS

Continued from page 1C

ent school’s season is completed. The latter was labeled the “Lane Kiffin Rule” for the new LSU coach who left before Ole Miss’ first game in the College Football Playoff. The one about former pro athletes certainly could pertain to LSU men’s basketball coach Will Wade’s still growing roster There are many other provisions in the bill, among them giving cover to the NCAA and the new College Sports Commission to basically enforce a spending cap on how much each school can pay its athletes and pooling media rights for the various conferences that the bill’s sponsors argue would create more revenue.

Saban admitted the bill isn’t perfect and needs “adjustments.” The Southeastern Conference and Big Ten agreed. The two mega conferences, who essentially hold all of the power over the CFP, can’t agree how big the CFP should be. But they do agree the Protect College Sports Act needs work and declined to give it their support in a joint statement released Tuesday

The SEC and Big Ten have a point — to a point. The bill isn’t perfect. But their motivation, quite transparently, appears to be the protection of their media rights.

Senate is far from certain. President Donald Trump has yet to comment on the bill publicly

Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, an ally of Trump’s, said he had “grave concerns” about the bill. He said his most important concern was “it does nothing about protecting biological women from competing with men and sports” — an issue that Trump has dealt with via executive orders but that has not come up in any version of these bills.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., a former college football coach at Auburn, said Tuesday that “there’s going to have to be some changes” to the bill for him to support it.

House Republican leadership had been working toward a vote on its own college sports bill, known as the SCORE Act, before the Congressional Black Caucus announced its unanimous opposition.

The CBC said the legislation should not move forward after a recent Supreme Court ruling that effectively disabled a key provision of the Voting Rights Act. They say athletic leaders are failing to address concerns about the decision’s impact on Black political representation.

On Wednesday, the Congressional Black Caucus sent a letter to Cruz and Cantwell urging the committee to pause consideration of their bill as well.

“Meaningful engagement and action by college athletics leadership should be viewed as a necessary first step,” the letter stated.

him he planned to attend at some point, though he did not specify when.

“Just to hear his thoughts about everything going on — the elephant is definitely in the room,” Neal said. “Just to see what’s going on, what’s he’s gonna do, what we’re gonna do with him.

Kamara said he isn’t confused by how the Saints have acted over the last several months. He also disagreed with the idea that the franchise was acting disrespectfully by not providing a clear answer about whether it plans to keep him.

“I’ve been through a lot in my life, man,” Kamara said. “I learned not to take things personal. Man, I’m blessed Like it is what it is. We’re in a business that’s unique to a lot of spaces in the world. Nothing catches me off guard, man.”

So would Kamara be open to taking a pay cut to stick around?

“I haven’t had any conversations in regard to that, so I don’t know,” Kamara said. “I think there’s a time and a place for everything. If that conversation comes up, then I’ll have an answer for you when it comes up.”

For now, Kamara was set to embrace the people he hadn’t seen since the end of last season. Before practice began Wednesday, he hugged defensive coordinator Brandon Staley and enthusiastically greeted several other teammates.

He said afterward he even had a chance to catch up with Moore.

“On my side, I feel no pressure,” Kamara said. “There’s no beef or bad blood, I don’t think. I’m just doing what I do every year, working. Whatever decisions have got to be made, they’ll be made.”

Email Matthew Paras at matt. paras@theadvocate.com

comments, Arkansas announced plans to cut its men’s and women’s tennis programs. They have since been reinstated because of the backlash, but the threat to non-revenue programs — basically everything outside of football, men’s basketball and a few baseball teams — is real.

Kirby Smart said at last week’s SEC spring meetings that he’s a proponent of the SEC making its own rules to make its programs more stable. I disagree with that, but he also sounded the alarm to the real threat to Olympic/nonrevenue programs.

“My biggest concern for our sport is that we will ruin all the other sports,” Smart said.

“People say, ‘That’s just the way it is.’ I don’t agree with that. We develop Olympians. We (football players) sit in classrooms next to someone who swims and dives.”

Maybe you don’t care whether colleges continue to lavish unchecked dollars on football and men’s basketball because that’s where the money is, at the expense of everything else. But that’s not the intent of college athletics or the college experience.

LSU offers 330 different degree programs. Should LSU only offer degrees in business, prelaw and medicine because that’s where the money is? Of course not.

“The posture of these two commissioners indicates that they do not care about the fate of the other conferences or smaller schools,” Cody Campbell, a Texas Tech billionaire booster and head of its board of regents, said earlier this year “Nor do they care about the life-changing opportunity provided to women and to athletes in our Olympic sports.” Not long after Campbell’s

UL

Continued from page 1C

improve as a shooter, although the Alabama native feels he can already score “on all three levels.”

“I think he has the ability to be a really good 3-point shooter,” White said. “They label guys in the NBA as ‘3-and-D’ guys. I think that’s where Derrick can be one day

“He’s going to become a really good 3-point shooter, and I think he’s a two-way guy with the ability to cause havoc on the defensive end.”

Among the other 10 offers Florence received were Old Dominion, Texas-San Antonio, Florida Atlantic and UNO.

“He (UL assistant coach Donald Reyes) wasn’t playing,” Florence said. “They were calling and catching up with me every day I

SAINTS

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Nathan Shepherd and defensive end Chase Young.

The following players attended practice but did not participate in anything outside of walk-through: wide receiver Jordyn Tyson, defensive lineman Christen Miller and tight end Oscar Delp.

Shough starts strong

Let’s get the caveat out of the way: These are spring workouts and therefore are not necessarily indicative of anything that will happen from here on out. The Saints practiced without pads, and the most competitive thing they did was a pair of 7-on-7 periods.

College sports spent its way into this financial pickle. It won’t figure a way out without some oversight from somewhere. It may sound comical to think the federal government, which has created the enormous national debt, should be able to help. But college athletics clearly has proven it can’t help itself.

“We’re all grasping for somebody to give us some direction on what to do,” LSU women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey said at the SEC spring meetings. Sometimes, you have to grasp for the least bad option.

could tell they were serious about it.”

Arriving this week to begin summer workout sessions, Florence intends to focus on “my jump shot for sure, but also my ballhandling and using the weight room to get bigger.”

Florence will be joined at UL by three high school signees in Isaiah Wilks, a 5-10 point guard from Oklahoma City; 6-8 Ty’shawn Duncan from Alexandria; and 6-7 swing man Zayson Salanoa from Humble, Texas.

The Cajuns also added a transfer portal group that includes 6-8 forward Dani Pounds of Tennessee Tech, 6-7 forward Josiah Harris from Cleveland State, 6-foot guard Mekhi Cooper from Lindenwood and 6-3 Trent Middleton from North Carolina A&T

Email Kevin Foote at kfoote@ theadvocate.com.

In all, Shough completed six passes, with four of them coming in the intermediate part of the field. The only true deep shot he attempted landed just out of the reach of receiver Bub Means. Odds and ends

Defensive back Martin Emerson secured the lone turnover of the day when he intercepted a Spencer Rattler pass intended for Bryce Lance. The interception came on a batted ball and Emerson was in the right spot to make the play

Emerson signed with the Saints in late April, and he is an intriguing player in the defensive backfield. He’s 6-foot-2 and 201 pounds and started 33 NFL games. If he can bounce back from an Achilles injury that cost him all of last year, he could play some meaningful football in New Orleans. Speaking of Lance, he had the biggest play of the day when he beat the defensive back across from him with a double move before hauling in a deep touchdown from third-string quarterback Zach Wilson. That is precisely what the Saints want to see out of the speedy fourth-round pass catcher Devaughn Vele didn’t have a ton of action as a receiver Wednesday he caught one of his two targets — but, interestingly, he did see the field as a holder for kicks. That role presumably will belong to punter Ryan Wright, but with Wright not present, Vele handled those duties.

That being said, Tyler Shough made some impressive throws in those limited competitive settings — the sort of throws that show the strides he’s made since his rookie season ended. Last year around this time, Shough had the look of a player who was trying to play within the structure of an offense that did not want him to do too much. There were a lot of check-downs, even in 7-on-7 periods, in which Shough was taking the easy outlet rather than attacking the defense. That was not the case Wednesday, when Shough pushed the ball downfield to his targets. Working without his presumptive top two wideouts Olave and Tyson — Shough still made several big completions downfield in his 10 competitive reps. His best throw came when he found Ja’Lynn Polk streaking near the right hash mark about 20 yards down the field on a deep over route. Shough quickly worked through his progression on the play and hit Polk in rhythm for a big gain. On the next play, Shough hit Kevin Austin in almost the exact same spot after a scramble drill for another big gain.

Email Luke Johnson at ljohnson@theadvocate.com.

Former Alabama football coach Nick Saban testifies before the Senate Commerce Committee on Capitol Hill on Wednesday in Washington about a bill aimed at changing the college sports landscape.

Canseco canrelate

Angels

By The Associated Press

ANAHEIM, Calif. Earlierthisseason, Los Angeles Angels right fielder Jo Adell had an incredible night to remember on defense, when he robbed the SeattleMariners of three home runs. This time, he was on the wrong end of aplay to forget.

Adell misplayed aflyball into abizarre home run off his head Tuesday,a fielding blunder reminiscent of José Canseco’sembarrassing gaffe 33 years ago with the Texas Rangers Adell reached up to catchTJ Rumfield’sdeep flyfor the Colorado Rockies in the fourthinning, but the ball grazed theoutside of hisglove before bouncing off his head and over the wall for asolo homer

“I was toward the line and Ifelt like Ihad alittle bit longer way to go than Inormally do on aroute like that and just missed it,” Adell told MLB.com. “It hit off my hat. Idon’tknow if Ioverran it and took astep over.But it waskind of the icing on the cake because I was (bad) all the way around the whole day today.”

There was brief confusionon the field when the ball caromed off adigital scoreboardabove the fence and back into the outfield. Rumfield stopped at second base, initially unsure of the ruling, before proceeding around thebases

“It’sone of those things where how it happenedlooks crazy It looks likeI’ve never played in the fieldbefore, which is disappointing,because it’s beyond the truth.”

JO ADELL,Angels outfielder

to give Colorado an 8-0 lead on the way to an 8-2 victory

“It’sone of those things where how it happened looks crazy,” said Adell, who also went 0for 4atthe plate with twostrikeouts. “It looks like I’ve never playedinthe field before,whichisdisappointing, because it’sbeyond thetruth. But it is what it is. I’m the onlyone that really knows what happened. Iwas outthere, and it happened to me, so it is what it is. I’ve got to just keep going, and as ateam, we’ve got tokeep going.”

It was similar to an infamous play on May26, 1993, when Cansecolost trackofa long drivehit by Cleveland’sCarlos Martínez. The ball bounced off Canseco’s head and over the right-field wall for ahome run

Rumfield’sgift homer ended the nightfor Angels starterGrayson Rodriguez, whogave up three homers and eight runs in 32/3 innings.

The playalso stood in stark contrast to someofAdell’s field-

ing exploits this season, including that Aprilgameinwhich he stole threewould-behomers from the Mariners —including oneinthe ninth inning —topreserve a1-0 victory for the Angels.

Afterthat one, former Gold Gloveoutfielder Torii Hunter, now aspecial assistant tothe general manager for the Angels, said Adell had“probably the greatest defensive gameI’ve ever seen.”

“He robbed three homers in one night this year,soit’sbaseball, andit’sacrazy game,”Rodriguez said. “Things happen. Obviously, he didn’tdothat on purpose. All youcan do is reallyjustmoveon.

Adellstruggled at timeswith fielding earlyinhis major league career,including aplay during the 2020 season when adeep drive by RangersoutfielderNickSolak bounced out of Adell’sglove for what was ruledarare four-base error.But Adell has had far more fielding highlights than lowlights since, and he was aGold Glove finalist in 2024.

“Jo’smade great strides defensively from when Iplayedwith him,” Angels manager KurtSuzuki said. “And obviously,hehad the night he robbed three homeruns. So Ilook back at the strides that he’smade defensively

“It was atough play tonight, but at thesametime, the stridesthat he’smade defensively have been great.”

LHSAAmoving3ofits titlegames to newsites

Boys basketball setto return to Cajundome

BY CHRISTOPHERDABE Staff writer

The LHSAA announced three venue site changes for state championships beginning with the 202627 academic year

The boys basketball state championships will move to theCajundome after 13 seasons at Burton Coliseum in Lake Charles.

The state wrestling tournament will take place at Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans after being held in Bossier City and Baton Rouge in recent years.

Thepowerliftingstate championships move to the West Monroe Sports &Events Complex after

two seasons at the Pontchartrain Center in Kenner

The boys basketball tournament has been held in Lake Charles since 2014 and willreturn to the Cajundomefor the first timesince 2011 —exceptwhenselect schools held their tournament games at the Cajundomein2022.

The LHSAA in arelease said that moving the boys basketball tournament to Lafayette put it in “a centralized location forschools and fans traveling from every corner of the state.”

Moving the state wrestling tournament to will improve“accessibility for asignificant portion of the state’swrestling community,” the LHSAA said in its release.

Contact ChristopherDabe at cdabe@theadvocate.com

LSWA CLASS1AALL-STATE TEAMS

Ascension Catholic; Luke Brignac,Ascension Christian; BlaizeBrister, Merryville; WinnCedars,St. Mary’s; Cy Crowson, St. John; Landon Daigle, St. John; Gavin Edwards, Montgomery; TylerEdwards,St. John; Jaxon Frederick Centerville; KrossGillen, Opelousas Catholic; Parker Gros,CentralCatholic;RileyHebert, Centerville; CarterHotard, Catholic-Pointe Coupee; David Irwin, CentralCatholic;King Jones, Logansport; Mason Jordan, Montgomery; Cy Landry,AscensionCatholic; Luke Leaumont, St. Frederick; Cole Mirante, Merryville;Jude Morrison, Catholic-Pointe Coupee; Haidyn Nelson,St. Mary’s; Preston Peebles, Ascension Episcopal; LannyReed,St. Edmund; Gabe Savarese, St. Martin’s; Alex Scheuermann, St.Martin’s; William Simon, Vermilion Catholic; LukeSpangler,Centerville; Carter Stelly,Opelousas Catholic; Landon Underwood, Central Catholic; Owen Vacarella, Hanson; JohnnyViallon, Ascension Catholic; Connor Yates,Cedar Creek. Softball

Glenbrook Academy;Sophie

Malorie LaCaze,St.

AvaLantrip,Cedar Creek; AveryMcCartney,Central

Catholic-PC; Emma Pitre,Hanson; AddisonQuick, Covenant Christian; Mia Richard, GrandLake; AverieRyals, Central Catholic; Zoie Scully Central Catholic; Mia Sisco,Westminster Christian-Lafayette; KennediSmith, Logansport; Brooklyn Steward, Merryville;Hallie Sutton, Glenbrook;Ava Taylor, Delta Charter;Hannah Thevis, Grand Lake;MadisonTrahan, GrandLake; PresleyWall, CedarCreek.

SCOREBOARD

8, San Francisco

Texas7,St. Louis4 Pittsburgh 10, Houston

Seattle 8, N.Y. Mets 3 Colorado 8, L.A. Angels2 L.A. Dodgers6,Arizona 5 Wednesday’s games N.Y. Mets 7, Seattle 1 Miami 4, Washington 1 San Diego at Philadelphia, n Kansas CityatCincinnati,n Toronto at Atlanta, n San Francisco at Milwaukee, n TexasatSt. Louis, n AthleticsatChicago Cubs, n Pittsburgh at Houston, n Colorado at L.A. Angels, n L.A. DodgersatArizona, n Thursday’s games San Diego (Giolito 2-0)atPhiladelphia (Wheeler 4-1),12:05 p.m. San Francisco (Houser 2-5) at Milwaukee (Crow 0-0),1:10 p.m. Toronto (TBD)atAtlanta (Sale8-3), 6:15 p.m. Athletics(TBD)atChicago Cubs (Imanaga 4-6), 7:05 p.m. Pittsburgh (Jones 0-0)atHouston (Teng 3-3), 7:10 p.m. L.A. Dodgers(Wrobleski 7-2)atArizona (Nelson 2-4),8:40 p.m. College softball College World Series At Devon Park; Oklahoma City ChampionshipSeries (Best-of-3) TEXAS VS.TEXAS TECH Wednesday: Game 1, n Thursday: Game 2, 8pm. x—Friday: Texasvs. TexasTech, 7p.m. College baseball

Super regional glance Double elimination; x-if necessary Athens, Ga. Saturday Game 1: No. 1Georgia vs.No. 1Mississippi St., 10 a.m. Sunday Game 2: No. 1Georgia vs.No. 1Mississippi St., 11 a.m.

No. 1North Carolinavs. No. 2Southern California, 1p.m.

Women’s doubles Quarterfinals ShukoAoyama, Japan, and En-Shuo Liang, Taiwan, def. Kristina Mladenovic, France and HanyuGuo (13),China, 6-4, 6-4. AleksandraKrunic,Serbia, and Anna Danilina (2), Kazakhstan, def. Demi Schuurs, Netherlands, and Ellen Perez(7),Australia, 6-2, 7-6(6) Auto racing

1: No. 1West Virginiavs. No. 3Cal Poly,11a.m. Saturday Game 2: No. 1West Virginiavs. No. 3Cal Poly,11a.m. x-Game 3: No. 1West Virginiavs. No. 3Cal Poly,TBD Troy,Ala. Friday Game 1: No. 3Troyvs. No.4LittleRock, 4p.m. Saturday Game 2: No. 3Troyvs. No.4LittleRock, 2p.m. x-Game 3: No. 3Troyvs. No.4LittleRock, TBD Tuscaloosa, Ala. Saturday Game 1: No. 1Alabama vs.No. 4St. John’s 8p.m. Sunday Game 2: No. 1Alabama vs.No. 4St. John’s 2p.m. x-Game 3: No. 1Alabama vs.No. 4St. John’s TBD

Tennis

French Open At Stade RolandGarros,Paris

Purse: $33,513,885; Surface: Redclay

Men’s singles Quarterfinals Flavio Cobolli (10),Italy, def. Felix AugerAliassime (4), Canada,4-6,6-4, 6-4, 6-4. Women’s singles Quarterfinals Maja Chwalinska, Poland, def. Anna Kalinskaya (22),Russia,7-6 (3), 6-3. Diana Shnaider (25),Russia,def. Aryna Sabalenka(1), Belarus, 3-6, 7-5, 6-0. Men’s doubles Quarterfinals Harri Heliovaara, Finland, and Henry Patten (2), Britain, def. Marcelo Demoliner, Brazil, and N. SriramBalaji, India, 6-3, 6-4. Marcel Granollers, Spain, and Horacio Zeballos (1), Argentina, def. EdouardRoger-Vasselin, France, and Hugo Nys(10),Monaco 6-3, 6-4. Pierre-Hugues Herbert and QuentinHalys France, def. David Peland Sander Arends Netherlands, 6-4, 6-4.

NASCAR CupSeries Points leaders Through May31 1. Tyler Reddick, 657. 2. DennyHamlin, 560. 3. Ryan Blaney, 483. 4. Chase Elliott, 460. 5. Ty Gibbs, 449. 6. Kyle Larson, 409. 7. Christopher Bell, 399. 8. Chris Buescher, 393. 9. Carson Hocevar, 383. 10. Daniel Suárez, 378. 11. WilliamByron, 352. 12. Shane VanGisbergen, 348. 13. Brad Keselowski, 347. 14. Chase Briscoe,343. 15. BubbaWallace, 338. 16. Austin Cindric, 306. 17. Ryan Preece,304. 18. JoeyLogano, 297. 19. Michael McDowell, 275. 20. Zane Smith, 272. Transactions

Major League Baseball American League BOSTON RED SOX—Placed UTL NickSogardon the10-DayILretroactive

Alittle prep goes a long way forchicken thighs with veggies

BY LINDAGASSENHEIMER

Tribune News Service (TNS)

For this easy,hands-offdin-

ner,the oven does all the work

Bone-in chicken thighs, coated in rich pastasauce, roasted on asheet pan will stay tender, juicy and full of flavor

To save time, the potatoes and asparagus get ahead start in the microwave before finishing alongside the chicken soaking up all those delicious pan juices. Lining the sheet pan with foil makes cleanup easy.Itjust needs aquick rinse and you’re done.

Creamer potatoes are small, about ¾inch in diameter,and new potatoes are alittle larger and measure about 2inches in diameter.Both are tender, flavorful potatoes that havea short spring season. Either can be used.

HELPFUL HINTS:

n Any type of pasta sauce can be used.

n Green beans can be used instead of asparagus.

to the empty side of the sheet.

5. Sprinkle the Parmesan cheese over the chickenand place the sheet back in theoven. Bake 5minutes.A meat thermometer should read165 Ffor the chicken.

6. Divide the chicken, potatoes and asparagus in half and place on two dinner plates.

NUTRITIONINFOPER SERVING: 547 calories (34 percent from fat), 20.5 gfat (4.4 gsaturated, 7.6 gmonounsaturated), 167 mg cholesterol, 44.0 gprotein,47.4

Beandonthere, ethat

BGoingbeyondthe traditionalred beansand rice, here are3recipes to tryfeaturing popularlegumes

eans are having amoment. Lately,they seem to be in thecultural zeitgeist.

At local markets in New Orleans, Ihave seen awidevariety of heirloom beans on the shelves.

Lastmonth, Iwent to adelicious bean popup, called “Luci’s Beans,”bychef Luci Winsberg at Really Really Nice Wines on Magazine Street.

Lastweek, Iread areport by National PublicRadio titled “What’sEating America.” It discussed the resurgence in popularity of beans amongst Americans. The renewedpopularityoflegumes was attributed to the fact that they are versatile, inexpensive and healthy In Louisiana, we don’tneed to be convincedofthe value or flavor of beans. Red beans and rice is aclassic New Orleans dish

Lemon-Garlic WhiteBean Dip with Fennel

Serves 8. This recipe is adapted from arecipe from America’s Test Kitchen.

FOR THE DIP:

1teaspoon oliveoil

olive oil)

½teaspoon salt

ä See LEGUMES, page 6C

4green onions (scallions), white and lightgreen ends chopped 2(15-ounce cans) small white beans, likecannellini beans (drained and rinsed) 1lemon, zested and juiced 1teaspoon ground cumin 1tablespoon olive oil(or lemon

1. In apan over medium heat,add theolive oil, then the chopped green onions; stir until the green onions are lightly brown.

2. Addthe drained beans, lemon juice, garlic, cumin andsalt. Turn the heat down to low and stir the ingredientstogether

3. In the bowl of afood processor,orblender,add thewarm white beanmixture from thepot along with olive oil and blend until smooth. Thenspoon the blended bean mixture into aserving bowl.

4. For the topping, dry

LEMONFENNEL TOPPING: 2teaspoon fennelseeds (toasted and crushed)

1teaspoon lemon zest

1fennelbulb,cored and sliced thin

1teaspoon olive oil(optional drizzle on top)

toastthe fennel seedsin asmall pan, over medium to low heat, for 2minutes. Once the seeds are cool, pour them out of the pan and crush them using a mortar andpestle(or just roll them with arolling pin). This step will unlock thesweet, warm licoricelike aroma from the fennel seeds.

5. Addthe crushed fennel seeds, lemon zest and sliced fennelbulb over the top of the dip. Add asmall drizzle of olive oil. Serve with sliced fresh vegetables, crackers or chips.

2Guinnessrecipes youcan eatinstead

PHOTOSByLIZ FAUL

TNS PHOTO By LINDAGASSENHEIMER

Guinness Mac and Cheese

Serves 6. Recipe is from marydisomma.com. This flavorful super-easy stovetop mac and cheese is made with Guinness stout, sharp Irish cheddar and a touch of Dijon mustard. It’s creamy and cheesy with an optional crunchy breadcrumb topping. Best part: It takes only about 20 minutes. FOR TOPPING:

4

4 garlic cloves, minced ¾

1 tablespoon chopped fresh Italian parsley FOR MAC AND CHEESE: 2¼ teaspoons salt, divided

3. Bring a pot of water to a boil. When the water is boiling, add 2 teaspoons of salt. Cook the elbow macaroni until it’s al dente.

4. Remove 1 cup of the pasta water and set it aside (you’ll need this later when you’re making the sauce). Drain and rinse the pasta, then set it aside while you prepare the sauce.

5. In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt 2 tablespoons of butter

Once it’s melted, whisk in flour Whisk for 1 minute to create a roux for the sauce.

6. Continue to whisk as you slowly add Guinness stout, followed by milk, half and half, remaining ¼ teaspoon salt, black pepper and Dijon mustard.

7. Bring to a simmer and cook, whisking now and then, until the sauce thickens. This will take about 2 minutes.

8. Add cream cheese and 2½ cups of grated cheese. Stir the mixture until the cheeses are incorporated.

Guinness Brownies

Makes 16-20 brownies. Recipe is from sallysbakingaddiction. com. These Guinness brownies are made from reduced Guinness stout. They’re fudgy, rich and topped with espresso- and Guinness-infused frosting.

FOR BROWNIES: 1 (12-ounce)

in the frosting. 2. Preheat the oven to 350 F and grease a 9-inch

paper, leaving an overhang on the sides to lift the finished brownies out (makes cutting easier). Set aside.

test the brownies with a toothpick. Insert it into the center of the pan. If it comes out coated with wet batter, the brownies need more time. If there are only a few moist crumbs, the brownies are done.

7. Remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack to cool completely in the pan before frosting or cutting.

8. Make the frosting: In a large bowl using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the butter on high speed until completely smooth and creamy, about 2-3 minutes. Add the confectioners’ sugar, beating on low at first then increasing to high speed.

1.

brown. Next, add the Italian parsley That’s it transfer the topping from the skillet into a bowl and set aside.

9. Add cooked pasta followed by the remaining 1¼ cup grated cheese. Stir gently until the remaining cheese is melted and the pasta is heated through. Since the mac and cheese does not go in the oven, it is essential that the pasta is reheated in the sauce. If the sauce seems too thick, drizzle in a little bit of the reserved pasta water

10 Place the hot mac and cheese in a serving bowl, sprinkle on the topping and serve.

Cowboy Caviar (aka Texas Caviar) Serves

2

1

1.

2.

pepper mixture. Mix it all together so the dressing covers the beans and vegetables.

Black

10-12. Recipe is by Liz Faul.

By The Associated Press

3. Place butter and chopped chocolate in a large microwavesafe bowl. Melt in 30-second increments, whisking after each, until completely smooth.

4. Whisk in the sugar and ½ cup of reduced Guinness until completely combined. Whisk in the eggs and vanilla extract.

5. Finally, whisk in the flour, salt and espresso powder (if using). The batter will be thick and shiny Pour/spread evenly into prepared pan.

6. Bake for 32 minutes, then

TODAY IN HISTORY

ment was then sent to the states for ratification.)

9. Once creamy and combined, beat in 2 tablespoons of reduced Guinness, the espresso powder, vanilla extract and salt. Taste. Add the remaining reduced Guinness if needed. If you want the frosting a little thinner, beat in a splash of milk.

10. When cool, lift the brownies out by gripping the parchment overhangs and transfer to a cutting board. Spread frosting over cooled brownies Use a sharp knife to cut into squares.

11. Cover and store leftover brownies at room temperature for up to 1 week.

Oakland

In

Today is Thursday, June 4, the 155th day of 2026. There are 210 days left in the year

Today in history:

On June 4, 1989, hundreds, perhaps thousands, of prodemocracy demonstrators and dozens of soldiers are estimated to have been killed when Chinese troops crushed a seven-week-long protest by demonstrators occupying Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.

Also on this date:

In 1919, Congress approved the 19th Amendment to the U.S Constitution, which said that the right of Americans to vote “shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” (The amend-

Also in 1940, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill declared in a speech to the House of Commons: “We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.”

In 1942, the World War II naval Battle of Midway began, which resulted in a decisive American victory against Japan and marked a turning point in the war in the Pacific.

In 1990, Dr Jack Kevorkian carried out his first publicly assisted suicide, helping Janet Adkins, a 54-year-old Alzheimer’s patient from Portland, Oregon, end her life in

which killed 168 people. Today’s birthdays: Actor Bruce Dern is 90. Golf Hall of Famer Sandra Haynie is 83. Singer-actor Michelle Phillips is 82. Jazz musician Paquito D’Rivera is 78.

Parker Stevenson is 74.

Continued from page 5C

that has been enjoyed in homes and in restaurants for generations. After eating Winsberg’s creative bean dishes, I was inspired to think more about cooking with beans at home I looked through cookbooks and, considering what I had in the pantry, I made cowboy caviar, a white bean dip and black bean cakes. Cowboy caviar, or Texas caviar, is the perfect side dish for a summer barbeque This dish does not contain any caviar, it is just a name that was created by Helen Corbitt to make it more elegant. I have eaten this dish for years but I never thought to look up its origin story I was delighted to learn that this popular bean salad was created by a fellow dietitian.

Corbitt began her career in the 1930s as a hospitalbased nutritionist in New Jersey and New York. However, she was not satisfied

Add jalapeño hot sauce for additional spice.

3. Pour the herb sauce/ dressing over the bean and

Bean

Cakes with

Sour

of cooking oil. Then add the onion and cook for about 2-3 minutes. Add the chopped garlic. Stir the onion mixture.

2. Add the cumin, oregano, cayenne and salt and stir the spices into the onion mix. Turn off the heat and let the onions and spices cool

3. Place the breadcrumbs in a shallow bowl. Set the bowl of breadcrumbs aside to coat the black bean cakes.

4. In the bowl of a food processor, add the drained black beans, the egg and the cooled onion/spice mix. Lightly pulse the food processor to combine all the ingredients, but stop before the mix is a smooth paste. It is easier to work with a thicker mix. If the bean mix is too thin, try adding some of

in that position, and looked to do something more with food and nutrition She found a job in Texas teaching and developing new recipes and cookbooks. Corbitt sought to use local fresh ingredients and present them in a tasteful way. She did not care for traditional black-eyed pea dishes, so she created this tangy bright alternative bean salad that has endured the test of time. I make cowboy caviar by mixing beans with fresh bell peppers and jalapenos. Then I make a dressing that is essentially similar to a chimichurri sauce with olive oil, red wine vinegar and a lot of herbs to bind the ingredients together It is best made in advance and chilled before serving I found two cans of white beans in my pantry and decided to make a white bean dip. I was guided by a recipe from America’s Test Kitchen that simply blended the beans with olive oil, lemon juice and spices. I had a fennel bulb in the refrigerator and decided to

4. Chill for at least one hour before serving with your favorite nacho chip.

Cream

the breadcrumbs to help you form the bean patties.

5. Form the bean patties add each patty into the breadcrumb mix, coat both sides, and then place all the formed patties on a plate while you prepare the pan to fry them

6. In a large pan over medium-high heat, add 1-2 tablespoons of cooking oil, then carefully add the patties. Cook the bean cakes until golden brown on both sides, or for about 2 minutes per side.

7. OPTIONAL: Serve the black bean cakes with lime and sour cream, or your choice of avocado or guacamole. I sprinkled tajine spice blend over them for an extra bright flavor

add fennel and lemon zest to the top of the dip to add taste and texture. I love fennel because it has a mild refreshing taste. Fennel is also thought to help with digestion. For this reason, fennel is an ideal herb to pair with bean dishes. Black bean patties can be made small and served as an appetizer or snack. They also can be made a bit larger and served on a hamburger bun as a tasty alternative to meat. It can be tricky to blend the beans to the right texture to form patties that hold together

To add extra flavor, try blending nacho chips in a food processor until they are the texture of breadcrumbs. The nacho crumbs serve to bind the bean cakes together and they add a toasted corn taste. It helps to chill the bean mixture in the refrigerator before forming the patties. Black bean cakes taste

PHOTO By LIZ FAUL Cowboy Caviar (aka Texas Caviar)

PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE/ TNS PHOTO By GRETCHEN McKAy Guinness Brownies

County, Michigan. (Kevorkian died in 2011.)

1998, a federal judge sentenced Terry Nichols to life in prison without parole for his role in the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City,

Actor

Actor Keith David is 70. Singer El DeBarge is 65. Opera singer Cecilia Bartoli is 60. R&B singer Al B. Sure! is 58. Actor Scott Wolf is 58. Comedian Horatio Sanz is 57. Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah

GEMINI (May21-June 20) Change the dialogue to reflect your needs.Ask questions, showinterest andcharm your way forward. Your input, dedication and creativitywillhelpyououtshineanyonewho wants to challenge you.

CANCER(June 21-July 22) Be honest with yourself and others. It's easy to dwell on the negative, but it's far more productive to let go of what isn't working foryou and embrace something that is.

LEO(July23-Aug. 22) Puta plan together and participate in something that addresses issues of concern.Achange to howyou thinkand what youare willing to do will commence once you get your head wrapped around what's happening.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) Don't feel pressured to make amove or decision prematurely. Concentrate on how to help yourself first andthenparlay your findings into helping those less fortunate.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) You'll have decisionstomake thatconflict withyour time, schedule and whatyou want to do.Don't committosomething to avoid opposition. Offer what's doable, affordable and within your capabilities.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov.22) Let your questions and responses be your ticket to a brighter future. Send out resumes, sign up for courses to update your qualifications and connect with people who can help you make your way forward.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov.23-Dec.21) Keep the momentum flowing, and you'll do great. Fixing up your space, vying for anew

position and higher pay or participating in something thatintrigues you will all lead to changes in how you do things and who you associate with.

CAPRICORN (Dec.22-Jan. 19) When opportunity knocks, open the door. Achance encounterwill make your heart skip a beat. Focus on home, family,love and romance, and less on outside influences trying to lead you astray.

AQUARIUS (Jan.20-Feb. 19) Put the past behind you, andstructureyourschedule to enhance your chance to useyour talents for something lucrative and constructive.

PISCES (Feb. 20-March 20) Holdontowhat you have, and make sure you are doing what's best for you. Someonewill lead you astray if you are gullible. Put more thought into making positive changes to your space.

ARIES (March 21-April 19) Don't let confusion set in.Takea step back,ask questionsand evaluatewhat's necessary When in doubt, take apass anddon't look back. Focus on how you earn your living.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) Pumpitup;work thosemuscles. Implement exercise into your routine or drum up entertaining activities you can do with friends.Participatingingroupactivitieswillbroaden your vision.

The horoscope, an entertainment feature,isnot based on scientific fact. ©2026 by NEA, Inc., dist. By Andrews McMeel Syndication

SALLYForth

beetLe bAILeY Mother GooSe And GrIMM

bIG

Sudoku

InstructIons: Sudoku is anumber-placing puzzle basedona9x9 grid with several given numbers Theobject is to place the numbers 1to9 in the empty squaressothat each row, each column and each 3x3 box contains the same number only once.The difficulty level of the Sudoku increasesfrom Monday to Sunday.

Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer

THewiZard oF id

BLondie

BaBY BLueS Hi and LoiS CurTiS

BY PHILLIP ALDER

U.S. Rep. George Miller,fromCalifornia, said, “The trouble with eating Italian food is that five or six days later, you’re hungry again.”

Thetrouble with 5-6 hands is deciding in which order to bid the suits. Look at today’s South hand. Would you open one spade or one heart?

Witha relativelyweak hand, it is better toopenonespadeanddescribeyourhand asa5-5.Butthishandhasveryfewlosers if partner has afit in one suit (or, even better, in both suits). So South should plan to bid hearts, spades and spades again to describe his5-6. Note that his two-spade rebid is areverse because partner, to show preference for thefirstbid suit (hearts), has to go to thethreelevel. There are two other points about the two-level reverse. It guarantees that the first-bid suitislonger than the second-bid, and it shows extra strength, instigating agame-force.

So North quietly supports hearts beforeusingthe Grand-Slam Force, asking South to bid seven hearts with two of the top three trumps. (Roman Key Card Blackwood would also do the job.) Surely South has the spade king for his threespade bid.

HowshouldSouthplayafterWestleads the diamond king to dummy’s ace?

Just in case the breaks are bad, declarer shouldplay alow trump to his ace. When West discards, South leads a spade to dummy’sace, returns aspade to hiskingand ruffs aspade withdummy’s heartqueen. Then he plays ahearttohis nine, draws trumps and claims. ©2026 by NEA, Inc dist.

By Andrews McMeel Syndication

EachWuzzle is aword riddle which creates adisguised word, phrase, name, place, saying, etc. For example: NOON GOOD =GOOD AFTERNOON

Previous answers:

word game

InsTRucTIons: 1. Words must be of four or more letters.

Canyou

draws near to me with their mouth, and honors

with their lips;but their heartisfar from me.” Matthew 15:8

wuzzles

marmaduKe

Bizarro

hagar the horriBle

Pearls Before swiNe

garfield

B.C.

PiCKles

U.S. stocks halt their record-breaking rally

NEW YORK Oil prices rose Wednesday following the latest flare-up in fighting to threaten the U.S.-Iran ceasefire and U.S. stocks retreated from their records. The S&P 500 fell 0.7% from its all-time high for its first drop in 10 days The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 620 points, or 1.2%, and the Nasdaq composite sank 0.9%.

Weighing on the market was a climb of 1.9% for the price of a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, which brought it back to $97.81. It rose after both the United States and Iran said they launched retaliations for earlier attacks or attempted ones.

Palo Alto Networks helped drag the market lower, and it fell 5.6% even though it reported profit for the latest quarter that topped analysts’ expectations Investors may have been looking for even more after its stock came into the day with a surge of 61.3% for the year so far, more than quintuple the S&P 500’s already big 11.2% rise.

Airport could soon run on 100% solar power

A large solar array is being planned to fully power Northeast Philadelphia Airport

A bill that still needs approval by City Council would authorize a contractor to build a 1.5-megawatt solar farm. In return, the city would purchase the energy for the airport for 25 years at a set rate. It would become the largest municipal on-site solar project within city limits. There are larger privately run solar arrays. The plan is a partnership between the city’s Department of Aviation, which manages both PNE and Philadelphia International Airport, and the Philadelphia Energy Authority

“The Department of Aviation is committed to purchasing or generating 100% renewable energy through collaboration with the City of Philadelphia Office of Sustainability,” Jessica Noon, sustainability manager for the airports, said at a hearing Tuesday by the council’s Committee on Transportation and Public Utilities Noon said Reactivate LLC, a subsidiary of Chicago-based Invenergy, will own the solar array It will be responsible for construction, daily operations, and long-term maintenance. EU launches tech sovereignty initiative

BRUSSELS European Union leaders, worried about the continent relying too heavily on American companies for AI and cloud computing services and Asia for microchips, are pushing back.

The 27-nation bloc unveiled a “tech sovereignty” package on Wednesday with measures to promote homegrown European alternatives to Big Tech services and hardware.

The efforts by Brussels have gained urgency as leaders worry about dependence on technologies from foreign providers, which they say could be “weaponized” against Europeans. Those fears crystallized after the International Criminal Court’s top prosecutor was sanctioned by the Trump administration, which led to Microsoft canceling his email account, sparking fears of a “kill switch” hidden in U.S tech services.

“Europe wants to be in the position to make its own choices, avoiding risky dependencies on single dominant suppliers, one company or one third country,” European Commission Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen, who oversees tech sovereignty, told reporters in Brussels.

“Because we live in a world where geopolitics and technology go hand in hand. Those who champion technological innovation will shape the future, and we must ensure that Europe plays a leading role in this.”

Dallas Neiman Marcus to close

Iconic location to shutter in September

BY BRIAN WOMACK

The Dallas Morning News (TNS)

DALLAS Neiman Marcus will close its downtown Dallas department store, ending months of speculation and delivering another blow to the central business district landscape.

The iconic store is set to shutter at the end of September as the company turns its focus on the NorthPark Center amid a bankruptcy process with Saks Global,

which acquired Neiman Marcus at the end of 2024. The closure will close the chapter on a multidecade run for the shop that had acted as a fashion beacon for the region.

“It is not an easy decision, but it is a final decision,” said Geoffroy van Raemdonck, CEO of Saks Global. “ The rationale is really we’ve looked at multiple criteria, but it’s mostly the criteria of what are the customer preferences and where is demand, and what we see is that there’s a shift in the retail map in Dallas.”

The downtown Dallas store was a flagship property for Dallas-

founded and headquartered Neiman Marcus until the chain was purchased by upscale competitor Saks Global in 2024. For more than a century, the building the epicenter of luxury retail in North Texas and welcomed some of the world’s biggest names in fashion such as Christian Dior, Sophia Loren and Gloria Vanderbilt. With the change, Neiman Marcus plans to infuse elements of the downtown store and its history into the NorthPark site, according to the company This includes reimagining the Neiman Marcus Cafe into The Zodiac Room and celebrating other pieces of its history

The downtown store was first set to close at the end of March in 2025 after weeks of back and forth between city and business officials and the company amid a lease dispute. Yet an 11th-hour announcement staved off the shuttering with the site set to be kept open through the holiday shopping at the end of last year — and then the lifeline was extended into 2026. The NorthPark business does more than 10 times the sales of the downtown business, van Raemdonck said. And sales, despite the attention the store attracted last year, declined in 2025.

Trump administration seeks new path forward with tariffs

First attempt hit legal roadblocks

BY PAUL WISEMAN and ELAINE KURTENBACH AP business writers

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is in a hurry to rebuild the tariff wall the Supreme Court tore down less than four months ago. The administration this week has proposed slapping double-digit tariffs on products from dozens of major U.S. trading partners after an investigation into imports of goods allegedly made with forced labor And more tariffs are likely coming.

Under the proposal released in Washington late Tuesday, 16 economies including Canada, Mexico, the European Union, Taiwan and the United Kingdom — would face 10% levies for allegedly failing to enforce bans on forced labor Another 44 trading partners including China, Japan, India, South Korea and Switzerland — would be hit with 12.5% import taxes. The tariffs are part of Trump’s push to replace revenue lost when the U.S. Supreme

BY NILESH CHRISTOPHER

Los Angeles Times (TNS)

Fernando Flores can spend eight hours a day pouring the same cup of coffee

He is not a barista. He’s a robot puppeteer, trying to train humanoids He manipulates mechanical controllers to make nearby robot arms pick up a pot of coffee, pour it into a mug and put the pot back in the coffee maker. Flores checks for spills, then empties the mug back into the pot by hand and does it again — hundreds of times.

“The repetitiveness, it can cause some discomfort,” said Flores, who has the title of senior robotic pilot

Court struck down sweeping global tariffs he’d imposed last year. This latest barrage is likely to unsettle key trading partners that have been hit with waves of tariffs since Trump returned to the White House early last year

“The failure of our most important trading partners to address the importation of goods made with forced labor is unacceptable,” U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in a statement. “This creates a dynamic where American workers are forced to compete globally on an unlevel playing field.” Greer’s office said failure to prevent such imports is “unreasonable and burdens or restricts U.S. commerce.”

Trump’s tariffs are paid by U.S. importers who usually try to pass along those higher costs to customers.

The administration, mindful that Americans are growing increasingly unsettled by high prices with midterm elections just months away said that it would limit the impact by exempting from the latest proposed tariffs a long list of products, including aircraft parts, food products (from coffee to beef) and rare earth minerals crucial in the production

at San Francisco startup Encord.

“It becomes second nature after a while.”

This Sisyphus of Silicon Valley is on the front lines of a rapidly expanding industry of robot trainers, preparing to teach and operate the army of humanoid robots scheduled to march out of nearby factories in the coming year Encord practices, records and sells data about movement to the companies racing to bring humanoids to homes, offices and factories. If tech companies’ optimistic plans are to be believed, a swarm of American-built robots is about to hit the market Tesla’s Fremont factory stopped car production this year to make

of smartphones and cars. Also spared would be products from Canada and Mexico covered by a North American trade pact.

The new tariffs would not take effect immediately They are subject to public comment and review Public hearings on the proposed duties are due to begin on July 7.

The plan drew immediate pushback. A Chinese government spokesperson denied the forced labor allegation and called for resolving economic issues through dialogue, saying a trade war doesn’t serve anyone’s interests.

“There is no such thing as forced labor in China, and we oppose using it as an excuse to engage in political manipulation,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said in Beijing.

The U.S. has long said imports of goods that include material from China’s farwestern Xinjiang are at risk of using forced labor Beijing denies allegations of forced labor in the Muslim majority region.

But critics saw the proposed tariffs as a pretext to reinstate tariffs on dozens of countries across the globe that hadn’t passed legal muster

way for production lines for its Optimus robots, with unbelievable plans to ramp up capacity to 1 million units a year Palo Alto-based 1X Technologies is already manufacturing its 66-pound, 5-foot-6 humanoid named Neo at its factory in Hayward. The company received 10,000 preorders, and its first shipment is expected later this year

Figure AI’s humanoid factory in San Jose has increased its manufacturing capacity to produce one Figure 03 robot an hour, with the goal of producing 12,000 a year Goldman Sachs projects the global market for humanoids could reach $38 billion by 2035. The AI of these humanoid robots needs an immense amount of data

on human movement. How humans write, speak, code and compose was easily scraped off the internet, but the bots need more information to master how to stand, step, lift, squeeze, pour and perform other physical movements That is where companies like Encord come in. The $10 billion invested in robotics in 2026, according to CB Insights, has spawned an industry focused on training robots Initially, that meant humans strapping iPhones to their foreheads, recording actions like cooking, cleaning and performing household chores. That, however, doesn’t capture the exact torque, force and grip required for a robot hand to work flawlessly

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By AURELIEN MORISSARD

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer arrives May 6 for the G7 trade meeting in Paris.